I remove the two part lid, setting the cover upside down and leaning the inner cover against the back of another hive.
Then off come the supers, which are set down on the upside down outer cover's edges at a slight catty corner.
Then if I am using a queen excluder (I don't in my own hives, but I do at work )I will pry it off and set it upside down on top of the supers. This makes sure not to transfer the queen or drones to the supers.
If there is more than one brood box, I first loosen the top one, tip it up to look for swarm cells (in season) and then lift it off and set it down on top of the QEx. And if there are several brood boxes, I repeat this setting them down in order, or on separate bases of their own if that is more convenient. Each temporary stack always has a lightweight cover on it, except when adding or removing a box. I use political signs for this.
When I have only one box left on the stand, I start the inspection there.
I usually pull out the second from the outside frame not the outer one. The outer one is likely to have little wax bridges along its outer face which can make for a messy pull out. It's usually stores, anyway.
I first shove it as far outward as possible using the hive tool as a lever.
Then I loosen the ends on the second-in frame by inserting the flat end of the tool between it and the box.
Then I separate the second in frames from the third one by making a crack between their ears on each end.
Then I remove any significant bridge comb between the second and third comb because those little bridges will scrape at the face of the comb as is it comes out.
Then I use my hook-end tool make the initial lift of one-half to three-quarters of an inch, and get my fingers under the end; repeat on the other end.
With fingers supporting each end of the frame and shoulders over the frame, I pull it gently and slowly straight up and out.
Once I've looked at it enough to gather what info I can from it, I set it down inside a quiet box and slip a cover on the quiet box to keep the bees on that frame calm and relaxed. I never hang it from the side of the hive, and only very rarely ever lean it against the stack.
If I need more working room, I will repeat this with a second frame, adding it to the quiet box as well. With two frame out you have plenty of room to loosen each of the next frames before sliding them slightly toward you and up and out for a peek. Then return the frame to the box along the inner side of the box, preserving your working space for the successive frames. If I find the queen on a frame, I will stow her on the frame in the quiet box so I know where she is. And more importantly where she is not, i.e. on any frame left in the box.
When I've seen enough, I move each frame back into position, making sure that all the brood frames are pushed close together.
When inserting the final removed frame (the second-in one) I just ease it in under control, if the bees are crowding along the edges, I will go very slowly and let them move aside.
I check to make sure the queen is not left behind in the quiet box and tip the rest of the loose bees in the QB back in.
The last thing I do in every brood box is use my hive tool as lever to press the frame ends together tightly and more or less divide the extra space left over on each side evenly. This last step is an investment in an easier inspection next time because I'll have room to work with at the start.
When that box is completed, then I move the second box back on to the stack and inspect that, and so on, until everything is re-stacked in order. I don't do much inspection of the supers beyond judging their weight and checking to see if there is harvestable honey. If the outer frames are not capped, I may move them inward to give the bees a hint to finish up.
For hive maintenance, I scrape the meeting surfaces of the comb sides or the frame rest surface, but not both in the same inspection. And I do the right hand surfaces if it's an even numbered date, and the left hand ones if it's an odd number date. By spreading it out I can avoid having the hive open for too long. If there is considerable burr comb between boxes, enough so that I might mash bees when re-stacking, I'll smoke 'em off the top of the frames as the last thing and then quickly scrape off the biggest lumps, before placing the next box down.
I do not look at every frame, only enough to gather whatever info I am interested in, which is primarily whether the colony is queenright and the brood pattern (both open and capped) looks healthy and of expected size. If there is a new, unmarked queen I will try to find her to get her marked, but usually I will wait until I happen to spot her. I like to see stores (honey and pollen) appropriate for the season and moist larvae. I also like to see a frame with room to lay.
I do a sugar roll on the uppermost brood box (or which ever one I have found and removed the queen from) last thing before replacing the supers. I do that once a month on each hive, on a rolling basis.
A couple of times during the season I will remove the lowest box and scrape off any debris on the floor which needs to be removed.
Lifting off the boxes and then beginning the inspection on the bottom one and working upward through them minimizes the rumpus, finds queen more quickly and reduces the amount of disruption for the bees. They spend some quiet time in reverse order (and covered), then one by one they are returned , inspected and then not disturbed again while they set about to fix the problems I have made for them. Only very rarely, and for particular reasons, will I begin at the top box.
Other people may do it the other way, but this works best for me and my very tall stacks. I run three, 10-frame deep brood boxes and use only deeps for supers so my stacks right now are 4 to 6 deeps high because we are still in our honey flow. I winter on three deeps, which in your warm climate would be overkill.
Hope this is helpful. You'll figure out what works for you, too, if you pay attention to when you have easy inspections and when you don't and figure out why it happened that way.
Nancy
