How Much Time Does Your Inspections Take

Two Bees · June 02, 2008, 05:43:09 PM

I hived two packages about 6 weeks on April 20 and added a second deep hive body two weeks ago. The girls are going like gang-busters in drawing out comb, storing nectar/pollen, and raising new brood. I added a medium super to one of the hives yesterday (no excluder) to give them a little more room.

It seems like it takes me forever to pull the 16-18 frames that are being worked, checking for unusual stuff, scraping burr, and getting the frames back into the hive!

My question is how much time should I be taking to inspect two brood chambers?

Kathyp · June 02, 2008, 06:13:52 PM

i think everyone does thing differently, but i rarely do a full inspection. i do a good one in the spring. after that, unless i think something is not right, i usually only pull a few frames to check on brood health and to look into the lower box to check numbers. i rarely inspect all hive when i go out. if, on last inspection, a hive is doing really well, and i see nothing from the outside that looks like trouble, i will skip that hive on the next round of inspections. in the fall, i do another full inspection to make sure they are healthy before tucking them in for the winter.

you'll find what works for you, but you'll probably find that a full inspection is not often called for. + it is disruptive to the hive.....but needed by you for learning.

Moonshae · June 02, 2008, 09:26:26 PM

As a new beekeeper, your inspections are probably more thorough and thus longer than they will be later. Right now, you're learning about how the hive develops, so looking at it all each time, while disruptive, gives you knowledge that makes you a better beekeeper. I'm going to say that taking 30-45 minutes per hive to do a full inspection is probably fair for your first year. You're looking in cells, looking for eggs, looking for a queen, looking to see what the brood pattern looks like, trying to be careful.

I tend to not scrape burr comb very much, unless it's an obstruction.

stinger27 · June 03, 2008, 01:32:45 AM

I was wondering the same thing. I am a fairly new beekeeper and I guess I aggrevate my bees to death, cause I'm always nosing around. Although it seems I learn something new all the time and I enjoy myself. I guess thats what its all about.

JP · June 03, 2008, 06:38:09 AM

Quote from: kathyp on June 02, 2008, 06:13:52 PM
i think everyone does thing differently, but i rarely do a full inspection. i do a good one in the spring. after that, unless i think something is not right, i usually only pull a few frames to check on brood health and to look into the lower box to check numbers. i rarely inspect all hive when i go out. if, on last inspection, a hive is doing really well, and i see nothing from the outside that looks like trouble, i will skip that hive on the next round of inspections. in the fall, i do another full inspection to make sure they are healthy before tucking them in for the winter.

you'll find what works for you, but you'll probably find that a full inspection is not often called for. + it is disruptive to the hive.....but needed by you for learning.

I will echo Kathy's sentiments here and will add that if it ain't broke don't fix it. If I have to go in and do some rearranging or pull some feed or brood to add to another hive I may be in a little longer, but If I had to put a number to it on average I'd say a couple of minutes.

...JP

indypartridge · June 03, 2008, 07:26:57 AM

Quote from: Two Bees on June 02, 2008, 05:43:09 PM
My question is how much time should I be taking to inspect two brood chambers?

As long as it takes you.
There are many things I can do much faster than my teenage daughter, but she can saddle a horse and be riding before I even get the saddle pad straight. It all comes down to repetition and experience. It's a learning process, and after time you'll get to the point where you'll see at a glance what it now takes several minutes of study to see; where certain actions become automatic and you do them without thinking. Don't stress about the clock. Enjoy your bees; enjoy the process of learning.

JP · June 03, 2008, 07:33:53 AM

Quote from: indypartridge on June 03, 2008, 07:26:57 AM
Quote from: Two Bees on June 02, 2008, 05:43:09 PM
My question is how much time should I be taking to inspect two brood chambers?
As long as it takes you.
There are many things I can do much faster than my teenage daughter, but she can saddle a horse and be riding before I even get the saddle pad straight. It all comes down to repetition and experience. It's a learning process, and after time you'll get to the point where you'll see at a glance what it now takes several minutes of study to see; where certain actions become automatic and you do them without thinking. Don't stress about the clock. Enjoy your bees; enjoy the process of learning.

Ditto!

...JP

MollySuesHoney · June 03, 2008, 08:20:24 AM

Quote from: kathyp on June 02, 2008, 06:13:52 PM
i think everyone does thing differently, but i rarely do a full inspection. i do a good one in the spring. after that, unless i think something is not right, i usually only pull a few frames to check on brood health and to look into the lower box to check numbers. i rarely inspect all hive when i go out. if, on last inspection, a hive is doing really well, and i see nothing from the outside that looks like trouble, i will skip that hive on the next round of inspections. in the fall, i do another full inspection to make sure they are healthy before tucking them in for the winter.

you'll find what works for you, but you'll probably find that a full inspection is not often called for. + it is disruptive to the hive.....but needed by you for learning.

I agree with Kathy on this one. When I do have to do a full inspection the time varies with every hive. It all depends on what is going on. I will say this most new beekeepers are amazed at how fast an experienced keeper can do a full inspection when they see it for the first time. Not bragging, because I'm no speed demon, but I do have to move because I have too little time.

Two Bees · June 03, 2008, 08:35:45 AM

It's taking me about 45 minutes to inspect both hives. So it sounds as though that's not too long for a newbee! I'm learning to do a little frame manipulation to get the bees to draw out the "end" frames a bit more.

After reading comments on this forum, I don't necessarily look for the queen. If I see her.....great! If not, so what? As long as I am seeing eggs, larvae, and brood and the hive appears (at least, to a rookie) to be humming along, I'm ok! The lower hive body is so packed with brood and bees, it's a little scary to remove the frames because I am afraid of killing the queen.

I will adopt what Kathy and JP recommend and inspect only a few frames each time if all seems to be normal.

Thanks for the info!

Two Bees · June 03, 2008, 09:05:00 AM

Sorry about the grammar in the Subject line! I couldn't change it after I posted.

bassman1977 · June 03, 2008, 09:41:00 AM

Takes me about an hour to do 11 hives. I don't go into the brood chamber more than a few times a year. Basically I go in to make sure they don't need more boxes added and that's it.