How to inspect a hive

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Have a reason

Always know why you are opening the hive. The usual reasons: to see whether the colony is building up or needs more room, to look for signs of swarming, to check its stores, to look for disease, to check the queen and her brood, and to monitor varroa. Whatever the reason, keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. 1

Do not start if the weather is poor, or if there are people or animals close by. 1

Before you open it

• A bucket of washing soda, 1 kg of soda crystals in 4.5 litres of hot water, for cleaning gloves and the hive tool between colonies. 1
• A sealable container for scraps of wax, to take away with you. 1
• Nitrile or latex gloves, not leather. Leather is hard to clean, and it makes handling the bees gently harder. 1
• Your records from last time, so you know what to bring. 1

Light the smoker away from the hive and before you put the veil on, so a sudden flare cannot catch it. Keep it away from anything that burns, and never rest it on a polystyrene roof. 1

Look at the outside first. Check the ground in front of the entrance and the floor tray, if you use one, for dead or diseased bees or brood: the bees carry some of them out. See that the entrance is wide or narrow enough for the conditions. 2 1

Opening up

Take off the roof and put it upside down on the ground behind the hive, where it will not block your way out or trip you. 2 Stand any supers on the upturned roof, set at an angle so they do not crush the bees underneath, and keep the crown board over them so other bees cannot rob them. 1

Prise the boxes apart gently: bumping them upsets the bees. Lift the queen excluder and look at its underside for the queen. Lay it upside down on the supers. 2

With two brood boxes, put the top one on the excluder while you go through the bottom one. If the queen is in it, the excluder stops her walking out of the bottom. 1

Use smoke sparingly, to clear bees from where you are working, not to “let them know you are coming”. Smoke from the top down: smoke from below drives the bees up. 1

Frame by frame

Take out the outermost frame or dummy board first, without rolling bees against the side of the box. Check the queen is not on it, then stand it at the front or side of the hive, out of the sun. That gives you room to work. 2 1

Go through the frames one at a time, in order. Put each back the same way round it came out, leaving enough space to lift the next without rolling bees. 2

To see the brood properly, shake the bees off. Hold the frame by both lugs, lower it a third of the way into the box, and give it one sharp jolt downwards without hitting the box or the other frames. It takes practice. 2

What to look for

• Every stage of brood. No eggs and no young larvae means a problem with the queen. 2
• Healthy brood. Larvae pearly white and curled in a C; capped cells dry and biscuit coloured. 2 Larvae that look melted, twisted or yellow may be European foulbrood. 1
• Queen cells. Learn to tell swarm cells from emergency queen cells, and act on what you find. 2
• Space and stores: whether the colony needs more room, and whether it has enough food. 1

Photograph anything that looks wrong. You can study it indoors and show a mentor. 2

If you suspect foulbrood

If you have reason to suspect European or American foulbrood, you must reduce the entrance so other bees cannot rob the colony, and tell your local bee inspector or the National Bee Unit straight away. That is a legal duty. In Scotland, contact Bees_mailbox@gov.scot. 1

Do not carry it to the next hive. Clean your gloves and hive tool, and change your gloves if you need to. 1 The National Bee Unit is on 0300 303 0094, or NBU@apha.gov.uk. 2

Adding frames

Put a new, undrawn frame at the side of the brood nest, never in the middle, and only while there is a nectar flow for the bees to draw it. Do not split the brood frames, unless you are moving a frame out to the side to take it away next time. 1

Closing up

• Push the frames tight together, so the bee space is right, and put the end frame or dummy board back. 1
• Return the queen if you caged her, and put the excluder back the right way up. 2
• Check the hive sits firmly on its stand, with no gaps between the boxes. 1
• Take your wax scraps away in the sealed container. Left on the ground they start robbing, which can spread disease. 1
• Write your notes before you leave the site. 1

What to record at an inspection covers the notes, and How often to inspect a hive covers when to go back.

The short version

• Have a reason, and pick a good day with nobody close by.
• Soda bucket, wax tin, nitrile gloves, and a smoker lit before the veil goes on.
• Look outside first. Roof upside down, supers on it under the crown board.
• Smoke sparingly, from the top. Frames out one at a time, back the same way round.
• Look for all stages of brood, healthy larvae, queen cells, space and stores.
• Suspect foulbrood? Reduce the entrance and tell the National Bee Unit. It is the law.
• Close up tight, take the wax away, and write it down before you go.