I want a properly warm day!!!

Last look at the end of September, first look in mid April. Six months with no interference and that has been my proceedure for the last 6 years. Does it pay off? I have yet to lose a colony over winter.

Not inspected mine ... still far too early ...looked through the clear crownboards and removed a couple of slugs that had found their way in - but nothing should disturb the colony until there is some chance of continuing good weather - and even then you should only be inspecting for a good reason - and curiosity is not a good reason !

Collected my new 14x12 frames and wax from our Club....and relieved to find they haven't been into their hives either.....and their apiary has lots of protecting trees unlike our exposed hill top. So my girls will definitely be u disturbed until we have good weather....it just seems a long time coming!

pargyle said:

Not inspected mine ... still far too early ...looked through the clear crownboards and removed a couple of slugs that had found their way in - but nothing should disturb the colony until there is some chance of continuing good weather - and even then you should only be inspecting for a good reason - and curiosity is not a good reason !

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You make perfect sense Pargyle.
Cazza

pargyle said:

... you should only be inspecting for a good reason - and curiosity is not a good reason !

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Curiosity is a good reason.

Its the best reason but too early yet to be disturbing them too much. Checked mine for stores and have watched entrances, enough for me at present.
S

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Hivemaker. said:

Curiosity is a good reason.

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Curiosity for a reason is a good reason - curiosity for the sake of curiosity (IMHO) is not ...

Perhaps I should have used 'inquisitive' - unduly or inappropriately curious; prying.

For me , well I've managed to have a very quick peek in all of our colonies.
Having said this , it was really just to check for drone layers , stores & space.
( the different. between colonies always surprises me )
I'm desperate to do a full inspection and mark queens , while they're easy to find...
But it's simply been to. Chilly.
I Have also managed to remove a few m/t supers from under b/boxes' but on the bigger colonies I've left them in place.... ( seems like to much messing to early )
I also noticed a couple of colony that seemed bunged up with stores ( but left them for now )

Last year we got caught out with osr flow starting so earlier. This year is looking better , because the OSR flow could still be 3/4 weeks away.
Hopefully by then full inspections will have been done and I be ready for a monster harvest.....

pargyle said:

Curiosity for a reason is a good reason

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And to learn is a good reason.

Curiosity - the desire to learn or know about anything

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Inquisitive also...

the desire to learn or know about anything; inquisitiveness.

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.
Do not blame if somebody look into hive.
Much more numerous are guys on forum, who ask from world, what is going on in his hive. Why his hive does not fly. Instead of that it was better if he open the cover and peep inside.

Finman said:

.
Do not blame if somebody look into hive.
Much more numerous are guys on forum, who ask from world, what is going on in his hive. Why his hive does not fly. Instead of that it was better if he open the cover and peep inside.

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Or invest in clear crownboards ...

Hivemaker. said:

And to learn is a good reason.

Inquisitive also...

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Yes .. we can play with words all day - the English language is much like statistics ... you can make it say anything you like.

I inspect when I feel there is a reason to inspect .. not just for the sake of looking through the frames 'just to see'. I can see the bees through my clear crownboards and watch them on the landing boards ... I look at the debris almost daily on my inspection boards, count varroa on there and monitor hive temperature and humidity - I weigh the hives over winter - so I have lots of information from all of this and I should be able to tell if there is anything seriously amiss, without tearing the hives apart this early in the season.

However, if there were indications that there WAS an issue then inspection is the only real way to find out ...

Clearly inspection for QC's is important once the season starts but we were talking about now ... not the first week in May or even April.

I do recognise that, as a hobby beekeeper, with a small number of hives, I have the luxury of this type of regime, I see my colonies daily, often more often ... given the number of hives that you have I can see that it is a very different situation and systematic inspection to make sure all is well is the only option.

pargyle said:

However, if there were indications that there WAS an issue then inspection is the only real way to find out ...

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I have learnt a lot over the years by doing inspections, even as early as January, saved colonies from dying of disease, re queened colonies with failed queens in Febuary, learnt that treating bees in the middle of winter with things like oxalic are often a waste of time in this area... this time of year knowing the time scale when it is okay to start queen rearing, etc.

pargyle said:

Or invest in clear crownboards ...

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A toy

Finman said:

A toy

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You do talk some rubbish at times ...

Hivemaker. said:

I have learnt a lot over the years by doing inspections, even as early as January, saved colonies from dying of disease, re queened colonies with failed queens in Febuary, learnt that treating bees in the middle of winter with things like oxalic are often a waste of time in this area... this time of year knowing the time scale when it is okay to start queen rearing, etc.

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Thank you! There has been a bit of early-inspector-bashing lately. I have looked in my hives a few times when the weather was good, and when one was getting very crowded, I even put a super on - and it's being filled as well. And, yes I was curious. No harm done I think.

While we're on the subject of "should you peek inside the hive or not?", there's a good short book on the topic of learning lots about your hive just from external observation:
At the Hive Entrance - by H.Storch
online copy here: www biobees com/library/general_beekeeping/beekeeping_books_articles/At%20the%20Hive%20Entrance.pdf

(put dots in either side of 'biobees')

Bosleeu said:

Thank you! There has been a bit of early-inspector-bashing lately. I have looked in my hives a few times when the weather was good, and when one was getting very crowded, I even put a super on - and it's being filled as well. And, yes I was curious. No harm done I think.

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Hmm UK microclimate stuff again.

In Southern England you can be 5C warmer than us here and the season 4 weeks advanced.

(New beekeepers may not realise the significance of local climates...)

A couple of weeks ago...we went to Somerset....the cherry trees were in full blown as were the blackthorn. Ours hasn't even opened one flower yet. In our local town...there are lots of spring flowers out....on our hilltop...we are probably 2-3 weeks behind. My bees are collecting from the nearby woods....deep yellow and orange pollen...some grey.

madasafish said:

Hmm UK microclimate stuff again.

In Southern England you can be 5C warmer than us here and the season 4 weeks advanced.

(New beekeepers may not realise the significance of local climates...)

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Many of my bees are 4 miles from my house. It has a slight elevation, but the forage is two weeks behind the area where I live.

Cherry is blossoming at home. It is only just starting to bud near the bees.

This appears to be an advantage. In two weeks time it will (hopefully) be warmer regardless of the elevation.