Is inspecting bees regularly doing more harm than good?

[Easy Beesy]

Hi all
Went to a meeting recently where it was suggested that regular inspections were detrimental to the colony as this has the effect of lowering the temperature in the brood nest thereby encouraging varroa to breed as they prefer a slightly lower temp than the 35C of the brood nest.

Can I ask forum members their opinions on this please?

 

[Brosville]

Google "nestduftwarmebindung" for chapter and verse

 

[For want of a better word]

I were told to inspect if the bees needed inspecting! sometimes more than others, tho I suspect some would inspect too often to satisfy their own curiosity... any thing to dress up in all that gear, big leather gloves and a violently puffing smoker... makes one feel loik a propper beekeeperer.


( not a serious answer!)

 

[Arfermo]

This weather leave well alone. In season, come mid to late March, weekly inspections are desirable if only to stop or control swarming. That would depend upon what you see the bees doing and the weather. Don't forget to feed light syrup from March onwards to help them get their strength up for flying as they have been on a very limited diet up till then and are pout of practice too.

 

[simoncav]

Another reason for poly hives?

I think that this is yet another reason why super-insulated hives are going to be increasingly popular in the future as a means of ensuring bees are kept as close to their natural condition as possible (inside a hollow tree trunk).

These would enable the colony to keep the brood temperature towards the higher end of the range without having to consume large amounts of stores. This would also have a beneficial effect on keeping fungal infections to a minimum and could also impact the Varroa mites ability to reproduce and thrive...

 

[oliver90owner]

How many check for queen cells when there is little chance of any being present?

How many have the hive open for half an hour at a time, looking for an elusive queen?

How many continue to disturb the brood nest late in the year?

Indeed, I might say, how many try to modify the hive internal atmosphere by leaving gaping holes in the ceiling?

In my book, all unnecessary.

Yes, early on, I used to inspect more, but not now. But that is what the internet can tell you rather than the old practices of beekeepers who had 'done it that way' for umpteen years without actually giving any thought to the requirements of the bees.

I noted early on that inspections sometimes seemed to precede swarming more often than one might expect (c/f the similar colonies not interfered with by the same amount). It may have been an incorrect feeling, but there again it may have been very true. I am thinking the latter, these days.

Added at edit: things like 'come mid to late March, weekly inspections are desirable' make me laugh at how little some think about their beekeeping. I most certainly do nothing by 'set dates'.

 

[For want of a better word]

Google "nestduftwarmebindung" for chapter and verse

nestduftwarmebindung..... Where can one purchase the right sort of crystals and farmyard product from?.....although must say an interesting concept!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Give it a go...because the mites dislike the 35c temperature of the brood they may avoid going into the cells with brood in, and just hang around on the outside of the cluster or up in the supers above an excluder, where there is no brood.

 

[Easy Beesy]

This weather leave well alone. In season, come mid to late March, weekly inspections are desirable if only to stop or control swarming. That would depend upon what you see the bees doing and the weather. Don't forget to feed light syrup from March onwards to help them get their strength up for flying as they have been on a very limited diet up till then and are pout of practice too.

Thanks for all the extraneous advice given that has little to do with the question asked. But to get back to the issue at hand, am I to assume that your opinion is that you disagree with the theory put forward, and you will carry out weekly inspections during the active season?

 

[Brosville]

Since I suggested Googling for chapter and verse I've found that bally spammers have managed to fill Google with utter nonsense advertising t-shirts and the like. In simple terms "nestduftwarmebindung" translates as "essential heat and atmosphere" - look upon it as a healthy warm atmosphere built up by the bees - take the top off a hive and it can take 2 days to resume normal operation after it's lost - it was propounded by a chap called Johannes Thur
"In order efficiently to utilise this costly, life-supporting and life-giving heat, nature has enabled the bee, a super-organism comprising colony and comb, to keep the heat in, to retain it. This retained heat is a mass of warm air, impregnated with scent, and thus germ-free. It suppresses harmful bacterial activity and hinders the occurrence of diseases"
David Heaf writes about it in detail on various websites and in his book on Warre hives

 

[Hivemaker.]

This retained heat is a mass of warm air, impregnated with scent, and thus germ-free. It suppresses harmful bacterial activity and hinders the occurrence of diseases"

Do you know of any links to scientific research papers on this subject.

 

[Brosville]

I've no idea if any exist - it's one of many theories on beekeeping which are now being re-examined - as with so much like this, who's going to fund such scientific research as there's no visible "end product" for a company to be willing to invest the funding? - as we all know, independent research is pretty rare.....

Common sense would tend to suggest there's something in it - many beekeepers acknowledge an inspection sets hive activity back, and I wonder how many inspections are for the beekeepers edification, rather than the welfare of the bees

 

[Cazza]

I wonder how many inspections are for the beekeepers edification, rather than the welfare of the bees

I suspect you are right here. Probably the urge to inspect so frequently lessens considerably with experience as one becomes less hidebound by "the rules" and more able to think for oneself.

Cazza

 

[yeogi75]

possibly a good reason to place the inspection board in whilst inspection goes on, preventing mass heat loss obviously a lack of updraft will minimize heat loss

 

[Finman]

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It makes more good. If it makes harm, a beekeepers should learn about that and correct his style.

But remember clip the wing of queen.

 

[Walrus]

I think it's one of those "between a rock and a hard place" situations. If, like me, you would prefer your bees to stay your bees (rather than swarm) so that you get some honey, then inspecting for queen cells is required. However, I'm sure the bees would prefer to be left alone to get on with swarming. And if they aren't charging QCs then leaving them alone must be better for them...less disturbance; greater industry...but how do you know what's going on in there without looking? I think that as little disturbance as possible is good, but not if it means losing swarms or missing disease.

I inspect weekly (as quickly as I can) in late spring/summer. I aim to do this on warm still days but sometimes that's impossible. I hope I get the balance right. In the end, for me, love my bees though I do, I want honey, and more bees = more honey (weather/ forage permitting).

Something I have been reading about but not tried yet, and which appears to give the opportunity to inspect less, is checker boarding (see Walt Wright)

 

[Finman]

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If you ask bees' opinion about inspecting, they surely have that opinion that "give to him some stings" and then more if necessary.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Do you know of any links to scientific research papers on this subject.

ahhhh, i read one but cannot trace it at present

the theory is

apis cerane the host of Varroa Jaocobsoni has a brood nest temperature of 33c and Varroa are adapted to that temperature and below ( outer drone area)

above 33c varroa find it difficult to breed so an undisturbed apis mellifera at 35c is more hostile than a disturbed nest at 30-33c

i will see if i kept the link, so in the mean time shall we all tape up our OMFs and remove the matchsticks LOL

 

[MuswellMetro]

ibra link to similar on varroa and temperature but not the one i read

http://www.ibra.org.uk/articles/20100408_5

http://naldc.nal.usda.gov/download/11830/PDF

whether it has been proved opening up casues a problem , i doudt but it has been taken up as a positive to support not to open up, by non intervention beekeepers

 

[Finman]

ahhhh, i read one but cannot trace it at present

the theory is

apis cerane the host of Varroa Jaocobsoni has a brood nest temperature of 33c and Varroa are adapted to that temperature and below ( outer drone area)

above 33c varroa find it difficult to breed so an undisturbed apis mellifera at 35c is more hostile than a disturbed nest at 30-33c

i will see if i kept the link, so in the mean time shall we all tape up our OMFs and remove the matchsticks LOL

And no idea that varroa has its own evolution like a jump from cerana to mellifera

heat control of cerana and mellifera

pure A. cerana highest 35.8c±0.3 to lowest ...34.6b±0.21.

pure A. mellifera temp fluctuation 34.7a±0.1 to 34.4ab±0.1

http://eprints.ru.ac.za/1893/1/Yang_thesis_final_Cpts_1-4.pdf

Studies on Mixed–Species Colonies of Honeybees,
Apis cerana and Apis mellifera, Rhodes University, 2009

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