Suggestions for 1st hive insp of the season?

[twb]

First inspection is still 6-8 weeks away for me, but what is it like?  Some poeple tip the hive onto the ground to break propolis seals more easily--would you?  Are the bees in their worst behavior until they get that next brood cycle under their belts?  How much burr comb and propolis will there be?  I expect to do lots of scraping and cleaning.  If you are splitting would you do it then?  Thanks.

[Troutsqueezer]

>First inspection is still 6-8 weeks away for me, but what is it like?

If the hive survived, it's fun. If it didn't, not so fun.

>Some poeple tip the hive onto the ground to break propolis seals more easily--would you?

That sounds nuts. A hive tool works just fine.

>Are the bees in their worst behavior until they get that next brood cycle under their belts?

Their worst behavior (when you open the hive) tends to be during 1) bad weather 2) queenlessness 3) end of nectar flow-protecting the honey 4) nightime 5) when you are showing off for company by demonstrating how nice your bees are.

>How much burr comb and propolis will there be?  I expect to do lots of scraping and cleaning.

You will have some propolis to scrape. The bees aren't building much comb during the winter.

>If you are splitting would you do it then?

Depends on what you are expecting. MB's website explains it better than I can. Google Bushfarms.

[Kathyp]

mine was fine.  bees were nice.  not much junk to clean.  my thought was to check on stores and overall health, clean bottom boards, and get out.  my goal was to disturb them as little as possible knowing that the queen would just be starting to do her thing and the hive was just getting active.  i only pulled enough frames to check stores and to see into the lower box.  then i pulled the top box off and set it aside.  removed the bottom box. scraped the bottom board and put it all back together.  probably about 5 min. per hive.  that was enough to see that they needed feeding and that one hive was not as vigorous as i had hoped.  it may well be queenless, but since it is early, i'll wait a bit to check again.

that's all i did for a 1st of the season.