The first major inspection should be carried out when flowering currants, goat willow and dandelions are in bloom, on a fine day (16°C+), with low wind & bees out foraging.

A detailed inspection requires planning:

Approach:               

• be systematic, careful and gentle

Objectives:

• find/ mark the queen

• check stores

• check brood health

• varroa check

• check the colony size

• check for queen cells

• ensure enough room

• evaluate condition of the hive & frames.

Tools for the Job:     

• marker

• scissors

• queen cage

• scraper

• smoker

• brush

Hives should be inspected every 7 to 9 days during the active season (from April to- July end):

This first major hive inspection is your best opportunity to find an unmarked queen and an important inspection during which to understand the condition of the colony and hive, At this time of year the hive will contain around 20,000 bees which is approximately 1/3rd of it’s potential.

However things will change quickly with the onset of warmer weather and an abundance of food. The queen is the most important member in the hive and hive management is all about our understanding of the queen, her strengths her weaknesses.

With smoker lit and hive tools in hand it’s time to take a look.  An important part of the inspection is to ensure we do not lose the queen or contaminate any equipment which is why we invert the roof section and use it as a tray. Be aware of how much smoke you use as the queen can be driven to the underside of the excluder or crown board so be careful when taking them off.

• Starting from the frame nearest to you....give a gentle puff of smoke around the lugs of the frame to remove bees, before inserting your hive tool to ease the frame out.

• Usually the 1st frame (outside frame) contains stores.....check it for the queen....keeping the frame over the hive.. any displaced bees will land on the hive avoiding loss.. This frame can then be put to the side on a frame hanger or in a nuc.

• Continue your inspection, moving frames to the gap created by removal of the 1st frame   

• BE AS GENTLE AS YOU CAN, AVOID JARRING AS IT ALERTS BEES TO YOUR PRESENCE AS A DANGER.     

• Avoid crushing bees as you remove or replace frames by sliding them along their neighbour and using gentle smoke around frame lugs.

• Inspection of the brood nest tells you the health of the colony and gives a timeline of what's happening.   

• You should have sealed brood (9 to 21 days old) larvae (4 to 8days) and eggs up to 3 days old. Drone eggs are laid in enlarged cells towards edge of the frame.

• Check the ratio of Egg numbers in the colony to sealed Brood, Eggs  should be approx’ 1/4 of the sealed Brood to maintain numbers ( 3 days egg, 12 days sealed brood) if the ratio of eggs is higher then the colony is doing well.... consider this with weather & food sources available.

The Queen will usually be on the frame where she was laying. When you find her keep your eye on her and reach for your queen cage running her into it. You can then mark her and clip one wing with your small scissors.

*Tip: leave her on top of the brood frame for the paint to dry *

Continue your inspection of frames and put all frames back in before releasing the queen over a brood frame in middle of hive. A Marked queen should make your regular inspections much faster and easier.              

• There is a colour code for queen marking:  (White, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue)                 

• Mnemonic..”will you raise good bees”          

If you can't find the queen on 1st inspection of frames come back again through them keeping an eye on the wall and floor of the hive as you remove or put in each frame.

If you still can't find the queen:

• Put first pair of frames into spare brood box or nuc, keeping frames a couple of inches from wall of box.

• Take next pair of frames and place them few inches away from 1st pair.

• Repeat with 3rd pair frames if using brood box.

• In main hive place remaining frames in pairs spaced apart.

• Check floor and wall again. With light shining on two outside frames the queen will move to darker side, so pick up the two frames and open them like leaves of a book. When looking for the Queen run your eye from the outside edge of the frame around the frame spiralling to the middle, lightly blow on bee clusters or use the rear of your hand close to the clusters to encourage them to move.

Having found the queen (and likely assessed at the same time) there is an opportunity to look at the remainder of the frames and hive:  

• Is there enough room for the colony? Likely to be yes in April but worth assessing and keeping an eye-on for future inspections this is when the colony should be growing quickly and a strong hive will require fresh brood frames and a super. Use it as an opportunity replace poor quality frames by moving these to the outside of the brood.

• Is the brood growing? In April there are likely to be 4-5 frames of brood edged by frames of stores and pollen. Compare it to your other hives, look for a good rugby ball shape, in proportion as mentioned above.

• Is the brood healthy?. The early inspections will identify colony health and allow time to treat it.

  • Varroa mite is common and requires careful monitoring. Treatment includes Thymol and Oxalic or formic acid. (drone brood is favoured by female varroa mites as they can produce two daughters as drone brood is sealed for longer. Integrated pest management can be used here by removing induced drone brood from a super ). Regular checking of mite levels will give a guide to their severity, 1 in a tray every other day in spring could lead to a hive loss without any further treatment.
    
    
    
    
         
    
    
                                                                       

  • Nosema a dysentery disease which weakens the colony as it spreads through workers cleaning the hive, visible through weak bees and under a microscope.                                                                                   

  • American Foul Brood & European Foul Brood are caused by a bacteria infecting the larvae causing them to die in their cells leaving a stringy residue under the capping for AFB and death before sealed cell for EFB ( these are both notifiable and  require destruction of the hive).

  • Small Hive Beetle and Asian Hornet are also notifiable to  DAFM ( Department of Agriculture Food & Marine) but thankfully we do not suffer from either in Ireland ( 1 Asian Hornet Reporting in 2021  but many in the UK)

Temperament

Check the temperament of the hive, it may require re-queening if it is an angry & Bad tempered hive you will probably have noticed this upon lifting of the Roof! The Queen’s Pheromone allows her to control the hive mood and as such changing the Queen can have a significant effect on how the hive behaves

The Hive itself

Check for damp, slugs, ants, mice, damage to boxes, mouldy frames and damaged foundation. These pests and conditions are dealt with on an ongoing basis, some simply and some possibly with support from others.

Record Keeping

Can prove very helpful particularly as we can find it more difficult to remember- the more hives we keep. A simple record of each visit and any future actions is all that is required... all we need to do is remember to keep them!

Legal note

We are required as food producers to record and manage any treatments or medicines which are applied to our hives & bees. A simple record of purchases and application is all that is needed, particularly if we sell our honey.

Despite every effort some colonies will die out, some due to loss of the queen, some due to damage/weather and some due to mortality. In the Coloss survey undertaken in 2018/19 of 37 countries Ireland loses 11% of hives over each winter ( an improving position) it remains one of the lower countries in Europe to suffer colony loss and mortality figures run at 3.9% ( queen loss 6.4%, Natural loss 0.4%). we need to remain mindful of this whilst undertaking our interest.... we do our best.

Steve Pursey
Sneem Beekeepers