I have heard that a hive inspection can delay or set back the hive three days. Is this really true or is it more specific to certain brood stages or maybee certain scenarios like walk away splits etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I say it is true.
I have several hives and an observation hive.
When I take the observation hive apart for any reason, it takes the bees up to three days to fix it back to the way they want it. What is worse is that during the first 2 days the bees are ignoring the SHB's. They walk around, undisturbed, like they own the hive and lay their eggs like crazy. On the third day the bees are pulling SHB's, eggs and SHB larvae out of the hive in a mad dash to save the hive. If there are not enough bees to handle them, the SHB's take over and slime the hive.
This does not happen if there is only minor disturbance. A good reason to always put the frames back the way they were unless you are intentionally manipulating the hive.
My thoughts are that it shouldn't matter to a new beekeeper. As a newbie, you need to learn by doing, and I always recommend that new beeks do thorough inspections every week-to-10-days.
Thanks for the comments guys. Fortunately, we do not have to deal with SHB here in Michigan much. I have kept bees for over 2 decades, commercial at times (400 colonies) for honey production but mites, poor hive management got me about 7 years. Heavy into honey production/packing, I tried to fight the mites with the then Apistan, Coumaphos and various naturals like thymol etc. In a final loss of about 300 colonies, I gave up. Now I am starting over in a better frame of mind towards better stewardship of the bees and looking only to produce bees for nuc sales rather than honey. I am experienced in many ways but sooo inexperienced in many more. I have always said that the backyard beek is our knowledge base of what works and what doesnt. Always always appreciate comments and suggestions.
I'm a big fan of treating mites with the Oxalic acid vaporizer. It's been a huge success for me. Others successfully don't treat.