Hive inspections

Hive inspections is an important part of monitoring your hive and the health of the colony. During the year a lot of changes can happen within the hive. Keeping a notes about your hive can be a valuable tool to keep track of honey flow, brood production and other aspects of your hive or hives.

In the spring bees are looking to build numbers of worker bees and drones in preparation of swarm season. They may already be preparing queens cells and rearing queens.  

In the late spring and early summer they should be putting away large amounts of pollen and honey. This time of year you will bee looking at the laying pattern of your queen lots of capped brood cells or larvae with few empty cells. How much honey and pollen is being stored how fast are they filling frames.

Summer you will continue to monitor the hives growth and add hive bodies as the bees need the space. The bees need to fill between 70% and 80% of the frames in a hive body before you should add the next hive body.

Bee deceases and varo mites You are always inspecting for signs of decease and parasites. The below pdf link is a good booklet to review lots of photos and descriptions.
Why do honey b tik? bees get sick?


Photos of the inspection of six hives in Arvada. The photos include several frames with good laying patterns and the removal of chicken wire from frames. The frames with chicken wire are from hive removals the wire is used to hold the comb in place. The chicken wire is being removed as the bees fill in the frames and no longer need the support of the chicken wire.
http://smg.beta.photobucket.com/user/cnetter/media/behives/hive1b6192012.jpg.html?sort=4&o=0#/user/cnetter/media/behives/hive5f6192012.jpg.html?sort=4&o=12&_suid=136130510860607025200454566605

Question from a local beekeeper with photo's. Check out these pictures.  No brood, couldn't find the queen, and have these spotty drone cells. My fear is that my queen split and I have a laying worker.

This was a new question for me
Answer from a well respected local beekeeper. No question about it, they have a laying worker.  The honey looks good doesn't it.  This person will have to move the hive away about 40 yds., shake off all the bees and put it back in its old location. All the workers will return and supposedly the laying workers can't return.  He will then have to introduce a new queen or put in a frame with some eggs and let them raise a new queen.  Best bet is to buy a new queen.  Another way is to dump a new swarm in on top of it.  There will be a hell of a fight, but sometimes the new swarm will just take over.  If he does nothing the hive will die out and robbing will start.  Hope this was of help.