Weather windows - what to do?

[Goodwood]

In the seemingly narrower weather windows we seem to be having, does one dive in and inspect, or let the poor bees get on and make the most of decent flying weather?
i am concerned that pulling the broodbox apart in "weekly" inspections in the few good days might actually be doing more harm than good.
Is it a better option to observe entrance activity and have aquick look inside through the supers / top of broodbox to try and judge stores ?
What are morre experienced and commercial beekeepers doing?
Thanks

 

[Poly Hive]

Most of mine are on new queens now so I am not bothered about swarm inspections.

On good days I prefer to leave well alone and let them get what they can to tide them over to the next opportunity.

As a season it is a washout unless there is an Indian summer and my hopes for that are fading day by day.

It appears that even the experts are clueless as to why the jet stream has gone so far south, just one of them things it seems...

PH

 

[Martin G]

weekly inspection

I’d think the easiest thing is to heft regularly so you can gauge if they are expanding or running low on stores. No need to open them up unless there is a reason, i.e. low weight etc. Just make sure the've got space to expand should they need it

Martin

 

[MandF]

But remember, if you don't have a new queen, you risk missing a swarm if you dont inspect every 7-9 days.

 

[Goodwood]

Thanks for quick replies PH et al
Fortunately all my queens are less than a year old
I also have a few bait hives out so hopefully any swarm will relocate close to home.
Fingers crossed for an indian summer
Another question:
How long can bramble and clover continue to flower and provide a nector flow?
No significant heather near here....

 

[Poly Hive]

No way of telling... weather, soil, etc... piece of string jobbie.

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

No way of telling... weather, soil, etc... piece of string jobbie.

PH

Well I have a piece of OFFICIAL Met Office seaweed !

..... saw the weatherman from the Met Office on the telly picking it up from Wembury beach....​

Seems to predict rain fairly well !

 

[BeeJayBee]

How long can bramble and clover continue to flower and provide a nector flow?
No significant heather near here....

I don't know about clover, but in our area bramble keeps flowering until the first frosts.

 

[scuttlefish]

Apart from #2 which I'll need to check in a bit to make sure they've taken the new queen in okay, I'll only be checking the rest of my hives with a quick peek in the top to check they're okay for either stores (#4) or space in the top super.

I'm tempted to put one of those big garden table umbrellas in the apiary so I can set it up over a hive & inspect when it suits me rather than just when the rain stops - it's been around 18-20 degrees despite the rain for the past fortnight so temperature's not a problem. True, all of the ladies will be home if I inspect in the rain, but it's not ideal either way.

 

[Nuc]

Both my Q's were "less than a year old" and swarmed early june. I presume that this years newly mated queens won't now swarm.

 

[scuttlefish]

Shouldn't do now, but never say never.

 

[protheroe]

ive just lost an unexpected swarm with a june 2012 mated queen,and a friend of mine lost one with an early june2012 queen on double brood and these arent usually swarmy bees,ive only had to do 2 AS out of 13 of last years april and may queens but for whatever reason these decided to swarm

 

[Mothman]

Both my Q's were "less than a year old" and swarmed early june. I presume that this years newly mated queens won't now swarm.

I found a sealed Q cell in the hive with my new queen of less than six weeks old the other day........

 

[bushman1872]

Ive had the same thing. One hive swarmed with the break in the first lot of bad weather un April and they have done it again presumably either today or last Sunday when there was a bit of sunshine for longer than an hour. This time round room should not have been an issue as they were on a 14x12 and national brood body.