How Often do you go in your hives?

[Southern Bee]

How often do YOU go in YOUR hive?

I have had long timers tell me 'If it ain't broke dont touch it' and 'Don't disturb the bees any more than you have too. The bees know what they are doing'

While other beekeepers advise to check things out at least every 10 days through out the warmer months.

So what do You do? How often do you do major maintenance? Check the hive from top to bottom? Just take a peek to make sure everythings going OK?

[alpha6]

It depends where you are in beekeeping. The only way to know what is going on in your hives is to open them and see. Even if they look great, open them to see how they are laying, if you are in any stage of EFB or AFB (best to catch these early before they take a toll on the hive) what your mite count is, etc.

I am getting to where I can pop a lid and know if something is up with the hive. Either by smell, sound of the bees or just the amount of bees on the top bars and how they are acting. But I won't know what is wrong till I pull it apart.

It's just as important to know what a healthy hive looks like as it is a sick one so you will know if a hive is sick.

Don't be afraid to open it up and look, just try and be as un-intrusive as possible and be very careful removing the frames so you don't damage your queen.

[Ravenseye]

It really does depend on a lot of things. I did a complete teardown of 5 hives recently (touching off a truly awesome robbing event) because I hadn't been in them since the Spring. If I have a problem.....laying workers, queenless, disease, no stores, etc., I'm in there every week or so. Certainly, Spring and Fall get more of my attention. But, other than that, I watch the entrance...pop the lid once in a while to say hi and let the bees take care of things.

That being said, I would encourage new beekeepers to get in there a fair amount. Don't be afraid of disturbing them and don't be afraid of them. Go slow, look around, get used to your bees. The experiences of an attentive, new beekeeper will pay dividends sooner than later.

[tbb39]

All the time when I got my first hive. This year I got some swarms that I check on once a week (just a peek to see how much they got stored for winter)

[mike haney]

depends on the season, or outside indications of trouble, or a strange event... good luck,mike

[Swobee]

Around three week's time intervals, I'll give them a good peek inside. More often early in the season, especially to try to steal queen cells before they can swarm on their own. I prefer to steal their cells and make walk-a-way splits than trying to catch a swarm. If trouble is spotted, then a little more frequently to monitor it such as weekly dusting with powdered sugar for mites after finding them . I figure it takes them a number of days to recover from having their home invaded and being disturbed. So the less they're disturbed, the better. It's not like they'll get to the point, 'hey it's our buddy Southern here for the twice-weekly peekaboo, line up and say hi, girls'. They don't like being disturbed any more than you would, but you do still need to look once in a while.

[Ian]

My average is a vuisit to the bee yards 10-11 rounds in a year, not including moeing. I might make a few more rounds just because sometimes thing dont work as planned, but on paper, as planned, 10-11 rounds. Some of those include intensive hive brood work, others are feeding, medication and honey pulling rounds,
I only dive into the brood nest once a year during the split round.

[Tom G. Laury]

While you are learning, as often as you like

Later, with experience and more colonies the sign of a master is how little he or she seems to actually do.

Reality is usually somewhere between the two.

Certain seasons are critical: Spring build up & Autumn build up

[tecumseh]

as often as necessary...

I think it is good to have some purpose in mind when you pop a lid. if bee keeping is a new gig for ya', get in there often enough to learn something and often enough to acquire some degree of comfort working around stinging insects.

a few snips from the prior comments.

alpha6 writes:
The only way to know what is going on in your hives is to open them and see.

tecumseh: not exactly. there are any number of things one can determine by casual external observation. typically I use these first clues to distinquish which hives need attention and which do not. population and some diseases are quite recognizable from the outside of a hive.

mr laury writes:
Certain seasons are critical: Spring build up & Autumn build up


tecumseh: yep... if you were a true minimalist... spring and fall inspection plus harvesting would be the only time you inspected.

[spunky]

Mabye 2x a month. I spend more time looking at the entrance



I finally sold some honey at work . WOW !!!!! My first 5$ bucks coming back in from this hobby

[dragonfly]

3 or 4 times per year as a general rule. Once in early spring, once in early summer, and once in early fall. I say 3 or 4 because I've had to treat for mites twice.

[cow pollinater]

As little as I can for the sanity of the bees...As often as I can for the sanity of me.

[dragonfly]

As little as I can for the sanity of the bees...As often as I can for the sanity of me.

CP, as soon as I saw you posted, I figured you said something like "I never go in my hives. I can't fit in them."

[cow pollinater]

CP, as soon as I saw you posted, I figured you said something like "I never go in my hives. I can't fit in them."

Well If you must know, I was thinking about saying, "I never go into my hives, I use the toilet". But it seems like you've got me figured out about as well as anybody ever has.

[dug_6238]

Go back and read Tom Laury's post.

More often when you're starting is one of the best ways to gather experience - this is a must.

I strongly agree that after the first year or two, the answer in somewhere in between. A conscientious beekeeper needs to conscientious about what's going on in his hives.

I do open mine on average every 24 days for drone comb treatment. While I'm moving frames, this gives me a good chance to assess what's going on. My mentor opens his far less. Like Tom said..."the truth is somewhere in between..."

[dragonfly]

Well If you must know, I was thinking about saying, "I never go into my hives, I use the toilet".

Oh wow, that's even better! I actually laughed out loud, and still am.

[Oldbee]

First year 'newbeek' with 1-2 hives: About every 10 days.
Second year 'newbeek' with 1-3 hives: About every 11-15 days.
Third year [experienced] beekeeper with 1-4 hives: About every 7-10 days in the early spring and about 1-3 inspections during the average 3-4 months of the summer honey flow. In the fall; inspections [your] may vary from 1-3.

Inspections can vary from just observing activity at the entrance,.. to breaking down the hive boxes and cleaning bottom boards; like in the early spring.
Inspections can involve just opening the top and inner cover and lifting a few frames or looking at more frames,.. if no eggs are found/seen. An experienced beekeeper can observe much and make decisions about the wellfare of a particular hive just by lifting a hive body and looking at the bottom bars for swarm cells.

[Tom G. Laury]

In the old cowtown where I live there were two well known local beekeepers, Big Nick and Little Nick. Both were Russian/Ukrainian. Big Nick was blind. He kept around 800 colonies, and diagnosed & observed with his hands and his ears.