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The Tai Chi of beekeeping

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Keep in mind the following. It is highly recommended that you inspect the colonies on warm and sunny days. The reason: the bees will be busy foraging and a large percentage of bees will be away from the hive. Also, keep to the... See more » Keep in mind the following. It is highly recommended that you inspect the colonies on warm and sunny days. The reason: the bees will be busy foraging and a large percentage of bees will be away from the hive. Also, keep to the back or the side of the entrance. Staying directly in front of the entrance will on cause the bees to constantly bump into you as they exit and return to the hive. After placing all your tools within reach, light the smoker as described above and send several slow puffs of smoke into the entrance of the hive. Wait a minute and repeat this process. Next remove the outer lid and shoot smoke into the hole in the inner cover. Again wait a minute and bellow smoke into the entrance and inner cover. After a minute or two remove the inner cover using the hive tool. Lets assume your colonies are only one deep super in size, meaning your eggs cells, honey stores and queen are all in one single box. This way we can use the most caution when approaching the hive. If you have multi-level boxes, the upper boxes are filled with honey frames and other food sources. A general observation of bee count and overall frame or box weight will give you a good idea on the food stores of this upper box. The lower boxes are where the brood is found and these boxes are our main concern during inspection. Remove any upper honey box or boxes and set them aside. You should now be looking into the heart of the colony, the brood box. Your bees should be fat and happy and flying about doing their thing. Occasionally you'll get a worker with an attitude who will hound you to death, never stinging you, but flying in your face. Ignore her or go away a few minutes and she'll give buzzing you. Remember, this is your hobby, take your time and enjoy the progress or learn from the problems of your hives. Using your hive tool loosen a frame toward the center. I like to do this, because it allows me to move two frames after this one is removed instead of one, as would be the case if you were working toward the outside of the box. Slowly remove the center frame using your gloved hand or frame grabber. Let the bees move down into the open space and crawl onto the frames in the box. A large number of bees will remain on the frame in your hand. They will be busy, adjusting to the bright sunlight and the new orientation of the moving frame. Turn so that the sun is behind you and be careful not to breathe directly on the frame. In the hive your breath and a direct breeze is very foreign to the bees and will cause them to alert. Look at the frame as a whole. In the corners may be pollen, which are yellow, orange or red filled cells. This is very normal. Also, you may see honey or propolis and even stored water. These are all normally stored products in the hive. The bees keep these food sources near-by for both easy access and for insulation. Now look toward the center of this frame. Since we removed this frame from the middle of the hive, it is probably a brood frame, filled with egg cells, larva or covered cappings, all filled with developing bees at various stages. The pattern of cells should be uniform and an over all oval pattern of egg cells should cover this frame. The single most miraculous experience you will feel in this hobby is when you look deep into the cells and see the freshly laid eggs. These ultra white comma sized eggs hang upside down from the cells bottom. It is at this point that you know that your queen is probably still alive and well. Eggs hatch in 5 days, so she was alive within the last 5 days. A good egg laying oval pattern is a good sign of a healthy queen who is able to easily lay eggs in each cell that she inspects and also is taking orders from the workers who are directing her in general egg laying areas. An out right hunt for the queen is a dangerous thing. Only in the respect that the more you handle your frames, the greater chance that you'll squash her in the process. The Royal Court is very conscience of your inspection and some beekeepers claim that they become tolerant of it after many months of inspections. See less »

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