When the first 65F day of the year falls on a weekend I feel like I've hit the lottery. It means I can suit up and do a full inspection in each of my hives.  I'm always a little rusty at the beginning of the year so I like to write down the things I need to look for when I open up each hive.  Below you can see the list I made for myself for my first inspection on Sunday. To keep track of everything I see I use this hive inspection form available from my local club:  http://www.dcbeekeepers.org/downloadable_files/DCBA_Hive_Inspection_Form.pdf

I'm happy to report that all five of my hives made it through the winter and the queens are laying well. Each colony is bringing in lots of pollen and nectar from the early-blooming plants in my neighborhood. Crocus, henbit, corn speedwell, hellebores, witch hazel and the maple trees are all blooming. These early food sources are critical to the survival all kinds of pollinators, not just honeybees. 

• Do I see signs of the queen?  
  • If I don't then I'll make a note on my inspection form so I can strategize with my mentor about how I might tackle this situation (e.g., combine with stronger hive, give them a frame of eggs to make their own queen, give them a capped queen cell)
  • I should see eggs, larvae and capped brood of various ages.  I'll make a note of how many frames of each for a ballpark estimate of hive strength
• What is her laying pattern? Is it consistently strong or is it spotty?
  • If spotty I'll make a note of that so I can strategize how I want to deal with the situation.  
  • Does the queen have enough room to lay more eggs?  I wouldn't expect to see lots of open nectar at this point in the year but if I were feeding liquid syrup the bees might be filling up the brood nest.  I'll want to make sure she doesn't feel crowded out. 
• Where is the brood nest? How populous is the hive?
  • Are the bees and brood all in the top box?  Is there any brood in the bottom box?  If the brood nest is all in the top box I might switch the boxes and put the brood nest on the bottom board and put an empty box with drawn comb and some frames of pollen and honey in the box above.  This is called "reversing" the hive.
• Do I see drones?
  • Are they walking around the frames? Do I see one or two or dozens?
  • How much drone comb is present? Is it capped? How old does it look?
• What is the temperament of the hive?
  • At this time of year I expect my bees to be calm. If my hive is "hot" (aka really cranky) this time of year then something isn't right. I'll make a note because if this persists then I'll need to come up with a plan to re-queen, likely soon.
• Do I see queen cups (dry, empty) or queen cells (wet, or capped)?
  • What kinds of queen cups/cells do I see? Are they wet or dry?  Are they capped?  How many do I see? I'll need this information start doing the math on when my queen might emerge, be mated and start laying.  
  • Where are the cells positioned on the frame?  Are they along the bottom of the frame (typically a sign of a colony preparing to swarm)? Or are they in the middle of a frame (an "emergency" cell typically a sign the colony is re-queening on its own)?
  • I'll make notes on my inspection form indicating the frame on which the QC is located, the number, type (swarm/emergency), and status of each queen cell/cup.  
  • I'll also take my sharpie and make an indication on the top of the frame and outside of the woodenware so that the next time I go in my hive I don't have to waste time looking. The bees can build up these cells and break them down very quickly after the queen has emerged so if she has hatched between my inspection and the next one I might not find that cell again without my sharpie marks.
• Do my bees have enough food?
  • Do I need to feed? How much 1:1 sugar syrup should I plan on making up? There is still a few weeks to go before the nectar flow ramps up and I don't want my bees to starve while they're expending most of their energy raising new bees.
• What else do I notice in the hive?
  • How do the wings on my bees look? Are they perfectly formed or are they shriveled up? 
  • Do I see small hive beetles? If so I'll make a note to stock up on unscented swiffer sheets to install in my hives on my next inspection.
  • Do I wax moths? I will make a note that this hive may have to much real estate to patrol and that I need to remove some boxes or combine them with a stronger hive.
  • Do I see lots of brown streaks inside my hive? 
  • Are there other signs that are interesting to note?  I'll record these things and take pictures.  If I don't know that I'm seeing then I'll post to the group and ask my mentor to help me.
• What else do I notice in my apiary?
  • Now is the time to think about how I might want to tidy up my apiary before Spring hits and I won't have the time. Are there new rat holes I need to take care of? Refreshing gravel walkways to do?
  • What is the state of my woodenware? Do I need to order replacement equipment? Plan to refresh the stain or put on a new coat of paint?

​What I won't be doing today 

• I won't be taking mite counts.  
  • I've got a lot to do in each hive so my plate is already full.  And, it is too early in the season for me to sacrifice 300 bees from each hive to get the count.  I'll likely wait a 3-4 weeks to take my baseline mite counts for the year.
• I won't be installing frames of foundation
  • the nectar flow isn't on yet so it is too soon to give the bees foundation frames to build out and that empty space to heat and patrol.

When I come inside afterwards I'll review my notes and think about what I saw.  From this I'll be able to plan what I need to do in the coming week including:

• what beekeeping supplies and equipment I'll need to order
• If and how I need to manage the queen cells/cups I saw
• how much sugar I need to buy and syrup I need to make
• if and how I might deal with weak hives