Who will be first?

[Wingy]

Opening up for full inspection
As a beginner I'm itching to get this season started, after all we are now in spring. I know there is no set date and weather plays a big part but I wonder if people would add to this thread when they do their first inspection? And why, location & conditions

My situation is I have an overwintered nuc that has been very active over the past few weeks, lots of brood cappings all across the inspection board and loads of new bees. A steady stream of pollen going in as well.
My nuc is home made 18mm ply with 50mm Kingspan insulation and in now thinking if I don't move to a full hive soon they may try an early swarm?

 

[enrico]

Think about what you need to find out and why, then think what you can do about what you find. If you don't need to find out anything and even if you do you can't do anything about it then don't inspect. My first question is , is the queen laying and if not then what can I do about it, the weather therefore needs to be warm enough for me to combine hives if necessary. That means t shirt weather. 15 degrees at least and a sunny day
E

 

[Poly Hive]

There is no competition about it.

As you are 250 miles north of the people most likely to be first simply due to location. I would imagine those on the Channel Islands have started already and you will be ahead of me as I am north of you.

Location location and location.....

PH

 

[colinc]

I am already later than first inspection last year but that was a quick check, with the weather this year I may be well into April.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Wingy]

PH sorry if it came across as competition like, that wasn't my intention, I understand further south will be ahead & further north later. I was just trying to gauge what people saw as the right time and why.

Enrico, I know that when conducting an inspection it should have a purpose and a plan of action.
The situation I'm in is I don't want to miss early swarm preparation by the colony.

I can tell quite a bit from observations around the hive such as
Lots of brood cappings from all frames (5 frame Langstroth)
No sign of any drones (flying out)
An interesting amount of comb to deal with above the frames. I placed fondant directly on the frames, a 40mm eke then clear CB, the little darlings used the space within the eke.
I've only had this colony since late last summer (a re queened cast swarm)

 

[SWEET]

I'm planning to open the hive and check stores and add a QE Friday and clean the floor of dead bees, temps are forecast to be around 12 . There might be more snow and cold weather on the way so want to make sure they have enough stores. I'll use a blanket and be as quick as possible etc.

The queen is laying as bees bringing in pollen , i can also see ( using the transparent windows i added to CB holes , the combs in the supper look empty , hefting the hive it feels heavy-ish but don't have the experience to gauge it yet .

Hopefully they haven't welded the BB and super together and it'll be an easy task .

 

[enrico]

PH sorry if it came across as competition like, that wasn't my intention, I understand further south will be ahead & further north later. I was just trying to gauge what people saw as the right time and why.

Enrico, I know that when conducting an inspection it should have a purpose and a plan of action.
The situation I'm in is I don't want to miss early swarm preparation by the colony.

I can tell quite a bit from observations around the hive such as
Lots of brood cappings from all frames (5 frame Langstroth)
No sign of any drones (flying out)
An interesting amount of comb to deal with above the frames. I placed fondant directly on the frames, a 40mm eke then clear CB, the little darlings used the space within the eke.
I've only had this colony since late last summer (a re queened cast swarm)

No problems, meant for everyone reading it as well as you!! Amazing how many beginners get knowledge from other people's threads. I wouldn't worry about swarms for ages! Eggs would be good!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Maybe what wingy means is that he is itching to get his fingers in but failing that a vicarious inspection experience might do for now?

 

[Karsal]

Opening up for full inspection
As a beginner I'm itching to get this season started, after all we are now in spring. I know there is no set date and weather plays a big part but I wonder if people would add to this thread when they do their first inspection? And why, location & conditions

My situation is I have an overwintered nuc that has been very active over the past few weeks, lots of brood cappings all across the inspection board and loads of new bees. A steady stream of pollen going in as well.
My nuc is home made 18mm ply with 50mm Kingspan insulation and in now thinking if I don't move to a full hive soon they may try an early swarm?

I'm not far away from you in Blackburn.

The best advice for any new beekeeper is to have lots of Patience.

I will not even attempt to open my hives until it's tee shirt weather.

Your bees will be fine and the earliest swarm I've had a call out for was the end of April last year. Just get yourself prepared to do a split if required.

 

[Eyeman]

First full inspection started on 29 march last year. My inspection date is approx 3 weeks after willow has started blooming. Willow wont be out for another week at least so looking at mid April this year.
Quick checks done every 2 weeks to cull DLQ, dwindling colonies and clear out any dead outs before comb goes mouldy. Also to check stores on nucs.

 

[Wingy]

Maybe what wingy means is that he is itching to get his fingers in but failing that a vicarious inspection experience might do for now?

Yes & No, I am itching to get started but have the patience not to rush in and do something stupid. My first inspection won't be a quick one as I already know I have a lot of comb built within the eke which will need to be sorted before I can even get to the frames. Plan is to transfer to a dummied full hive with a couple of frames of foundation to keep them busy.
Just worried about the nuc bursting at the seems before I can inspect properly

 

[drex]

I too have a nucs which is building comb in the fondant eke, and has loads of bees. However a lot of this brace comb is empty. I have over wintered six nucs, all in one block with insulation all around. I have removed this nucs from the block and am gradually moving it nearer to its permanent site. It is going into the one WBC I have, but it will take a couple of weeks to get it to permanent site. I will swap it over on a warm day. I will smoke the bees down out of the brace comb, and using a carving knife will slice it away from the top bars en bloc, then a Quick transfer of frames. I am much further south than you.
No worries about swarming. They will produce drones before thinking of swarming.

The brace comb can be sorted later.

 

[Karsal]

I too have a nucs which is building comb in the fondant eke, and has loads of bees. However a lot of this brace comb is empty. I have over wintered six nucs, all in one block with insulation all around. I have removed this nucs from the block and am gradually moving it nearer to its permanent site. It is going into the one WBC I have, but it will take a couple of weeks to get it to permanent site. I will swap it over on a warm day. I will smoke the bees down out of the brace comb, and using a carving knife will slice it away from the top bars en bloc, then a Quick transfer of frames. I am much further south than you.
No worries about swarming. They will produce drones before thinking of swarming.

The brace comb can be sorted later.

Why do you allow the bees to wander up into the eke and build brace comb?
I always place a small plastic container with fondant in over the top of the hole in the crown board. This allows the bees access to the food but keeps them from entering the eke and building brace comb.
Makes for an easier first inspection at the beginning of the season.

 

[Erichalfbee]

My first look-ins are usually mid April any year. This year I think one colony will be going into a poly nuc but I’m hoping for no surprises. I just wish this weather would pick up and a forecast of yet another cold spell and snow for Easter has left me dismayed...... again. I have an exotic willow out already but the goat willow is still to come, maybe a week or two yet.

 

[mazzamazda]

I havent even had a look yet, weather is grim.

 

[Wingy]

Why do you allow the bees to wander up into the eke and build brace comb?
I always place a small plastic container with fondant in over the top of the hole in the crown board. This allows the bees access to the food but keeps them from entering the eke and building brace comb.
Makes for an easier first inspection at the beginning of the season.

Reason I did it that way is because this was such a small late cast swarm with so many problems it should not have even made it into autumn. The fondant was placed directly on the frame top bars so that the bees would not have to venture up into a tub above the CB thus not suffering isolation starvation with food just out of reach.

 

[drex]

Why do you allow the bees to wander up into the eke and build brace comb?
I always place a small plastic container with fondant in over the top of the hole in the crown board. This allows the bees access to the food but keeps them from entering the eke and building brace comb.
Makes for an easier first inspection at the beginning of the season.

Same as Wingy. I like the fondant as close to the cluster as possible. None of the CB' on my nucs have holes ( home made), and most of my full size boards have no holes in either - only those that came with the hives, and they are usually in the shed or have been modified into clearer boards etc.

 

[SWEET]

Check went well , bees have loads of stores in the super , plenty of bees milling about and they seemed busy and not to angry , floor needs a clean and outer frames had a few spots of mould but i'll sort all that mid April ( see pre-winter thread for more detail ) .