Hive inspection and weather?

[juzzerbee]

I know there have been a few threads started in similarity to my question, but I did not get an exact answer for my situation. It has been 1 week since I checked on the successful release of my Queens. I would/should do a 1 week follow up inspection of the hive today. Right now is the day I should inspect(Thursday). The weather in southern Wisconsin is forecasted to be only a high of the mid 50's through next Monday. After that it will be in the 60's-70's but with rain forecasted. When should I check on the hive progress? Sometime this week when it is a bit cold(risk killing brood), or wait over 2 whole weeks to do my first full frame inspection? This weather is really a curve ball for this newbee!!! Thanks, juzzerbee.

[jadell]

I would only pop the top to make sure comb is being drawn straight. I think that's all you need to worry about since the queen is out already. One poorly dawn comb leads to several. I would wait til better weather for a more thorough inspection.

[mrqb]

mid 50's not to windy,i'd go for it if thats what u want to do,i'd want to know if she's laying,and 50's is better than rainy

[juzzerbee]

Should I look at all 10 frames, front and back? Is that too much time spent with the hive open when it's in the 50's? What IS the difference between an observation for eggs/larvae and a, "full inspection?"

[throrope]

At this stage of the game, I'd confirm brood production and progression of stores only on warm days. One or two frames should do. After that, enjoy watching the traffic. They do best on their own.

Consider what your management would require in time if you had thirty hives. Three hundred is still small scale, won't support a family, and done every day.

[juzzerbee]

So.. are you saying to start checking from the outside frames and work my way towards the center until I see two full frames(front and back) of brood and stores?? What color is each? In your opinion is 55 degrees considered a, "warm day" for this type of brood check? If I wait any longer, I am afraid I might miss out on a possible problem that might be happening, and the weather is to be quite rainy. Thanks to all for the help.

[throrope]

So.. are you saying to start checking from the outside frames and work my way towards the center until I see two full frames(front and back) of brood and stores?? What color is each? In your opinion is 55 degrees considered a, "warm day" for this type of brood check? If I wait any longer, I am afraid I might miss out on a possible problem that might be happening, and the weather is to be quite rainy. Thanks to all for the help.

IMHO, other than a failed queen, not much will be gained from inspection with a new package at this stage. Any serious issue will be indicated at the entrance. Looking for the queen before she establishes herself isn't easy and risky. I never found one until an inspector showed me what mine looked like.

I suspect you will see the girls congregating on a few adjacent frames. I'd gingerly inspect one of them and take only the time needed to verify brood. Brood looks like white larvae curled in the cell. Eggs are hard to see and look like grains of rice at the bottom. The ones standing on end were just laid. As far as temperature, I'd wait for 65-70. If you don't find any brood, best to wait a week or two before taking action. I error on the side of less fiddling.

If you don't have nearby support, an appointment with a state inspector can provide meaningful guidance.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[mrqb]

jzzrbee i would agree with rope,your primary concern is a queenrite hive,looking for 2 or three frames,usually but not always in the middle of box,looking for evidence of eggs,i would suggest some magnifying eyeglasses if you haven't looked for eggs before there pretty small

[Beev]

I agree with throrope, quick look only. In only a week they won't have done much, and although the queen may have started laying right away, sometimes it takes a week or two so you may not see any brood. It won't hurt to leave them alone for a week or two if you have to.

[NasalSponge]

Personally....I would wait the two weeks in this case.

[Nantom670]

If you go out there during the day and they are bringing in pollen and coming and going good you have no worries. They first have to be drawing comb before she has a place to lay. As I said, if they are going out and in the hive you are probably ok. You could pull a couple of frames from the center in a couple of minutes. It will not take but 5 minutes or so to do a quick inspection. Go for it.

[juzzerbee]

Thanks all for the suggestions. I am reading the last few of your posts AFTER the fact that I observed my 2 hives(my fault, I was too eager to check the hives). The temp was 54 degrees out with enough wind to push my smoke around. The first hive had bees working on 4-5 of the frames. I found what appeared to be sugar syrup stored and some pollen. Drawing out was looking good to my novice eyes. I could not find any eggs, larvae, are anything capped. That was a bummer. I didn't see the queen either. I wasn't spending much time looking for her though. I was in the frames for about 5-6 minutes. That hive really bummed me out for an excited new bee keeper. Well, on to the 2nd hive I went. There I got through to about frame 4 or 5 and there with confidence saw LARVAE!!! I put the frame back in immediately and slid everything together and covered the hive. As I finished refilling the bucket feeders I noticed that there were a lot of new "dying" bees on the ground in front of both hives. I did a quick count of about 40-50 and then really started to worry. I held about 15 in my cupped hands and warmed them up, they started to come to so I placed them back into what I thought was the correct hive. I hope I didn't really screw something up here today. I hope I didn't chill the brood, squash or lose the queen in hive 1, accidentally kill 50 innocent working bees. At least I have the optimistic members of Beesource.com to keep my spirits up with words of support. Should I check the hives again in 1 week? As of now the weather is "suppose" to be perfect for it. FINALLY!!!!!! Thanks again, juzzerbee.

[Swedeboy]

I seem to be having a similar but opposite problem here. We have a very hot spring and I just did an inspection that I had to abandon for the time being as it is too hot out for the very fresh comb. It was bending and trying to fall over way too much for my comfort I took out 3 bars and cut some cross comb off and then put them back. I will wait until it cools off tonight to look at the rest I think.

[Chemguy]

I installed my two packages last week (new beek), and have seen lots of activity. Rather than risk disturbing the new colonies by opening the hives for inspection too soon, I decided that it might be possible to indirectly observe what is happening inside by sliding out the tray on my SBB. Since all of the equipment is new and clean, I figured that there would be dross that fell in between the frames that are being worked, and that the lines immediately under each frame would be mostly clear of debris. Sure enough, that seems to be the case. There are flakes of wax and bits of pollen between 8 of the 10 frames, which says to me that the bees have at least started on those frames (I am using foundation). I don't know how fully drawn the frames are, but knowing this can wait until I get into the hive properly. There seems to be more of an accumulation underneath the center frames, as I would expect. It's been overcast and windy for the past few days and on/off rain is forecast during the first part of this week, so it will be a few days before I go in.