When not to open a beehive? Well, this will depend on what your skill levels are, the season, the state the bees are in, and even what is flowering at the time. Let me explain, based on my experience and the conventional wisdom out there.
If you are asking “When not to open a beehive?” it means you are at that lovely stage of starting your voyage in beekeeping. This is a really exciting stage in our beekeeping journey and much of the advice you receive seems really complicated, and completely overwhelming. So what I am going to do here is to provide you with an overview of advice – you can adjust this to your area by speaking to local experienced beekeepers and extension officers.
Why Do We Need To Open A Hive?
A Suggested Beehive Inspections Schedule: How often to open a beehive
There are a few basic reasons we need to open a hive. Let’s have a look at them, and then look at how we minimize risk to the hive. We can start in the early days of spring. These rules are roughly universal, but naturally the further you move away from the equator the more you need to delay these activities due to the temperature being low. I have included a few sub-headings in this section for ease of reference.
Early Spring Inspection
For many beekeepers, they use the term “The bee year” which is basically the point that the queen begins the so-called “spring build-up” and starts laying like crazy to get the workforce ready for spring. There are no hard and fast rules here, as we are dealing with an insect that can be found in the tropics all the way to the arctic circle!! But there are biological common sense understandings that we apply.
Typically, when days are short, or very cold, the queen has to stop laying eggs. In bees far from the equator, this is due to the fact that bees have to form a winter cluster, and keeping this cluster warm is energy intensive. Bees also have to go to the toilet if they rear brood, and when a hive is covered by snow, or it is very cold outside, this is not possible. Hence the bees have to stop rearing brood!
In warmer climates, such as those in central African woodlands, you will often find that there is a long dry season and that the trees shed their leaves and go dormant at this time – this also causes a “nectar and pollen drought” and the bees will stop producing much brood and live off their honey and pollen stores. In this environment, the bees can go to the toilet, and hence they are able to maintain a small cluster of brood.
When Not To Open A Beehive In Late Winter/Early Spring
If we open hives in the cold climates in the middle of winter as we approach “bee spring” the start of brood rearing, we will chill the hive and that will kill the bees. This is an example of when not to open a beehive. If we open bees in warmer climates at this time of year, we run the risk of robbing being induced as robber bees from one hive will get into another hive, and then they fight and kill each other and it creates a terrible mess. This is also an example of when not to open a beehive. In warmer climates, you can consider opening hives just before sunset as this is less likely to trigger robbing.
How To Inspect A Beehive For Diseases In Spring?
For me “spring inspection” is what I recommend when you start to see the first strong flow of pollen into the hives – the bees will start flying on clear days, and start bringing pollen in and you will see them going out on “cleansing” flights and going to the toilet. At this point, you can have a look in the hive on a warm calm wind free day.
Normally this is the time to think of implementing some sort of mite control if you are keeping European bees, and feeding your bees to build up for the honey flow which is coming. Contact your local extension officer for advice on the correct treatments in your area.
In warmer climates, you are looking into the hive to ensure that there is a rapid build-up of bees, and can also consider feeding here. Naturally, if you are fortunate enough to have African bees, you do not have to worry about mite control, as the bees can do this themselves. For African bees, you are just looking to see if the queen is laying and whether you need to feed a bit of sugar to help build your hive population.
Spring Inspection
This is the first time you can really open a hive properly and have a look at the brood nest, and check that your queen is laying properly and that brood rearing is effective. If it is still cold that is when not to open a beehive in spring. Choose a warmer day.
Depending on your race of bees, you can do some sort of mite counts, look for diseases such as American and European foulbrood, chalkbrood, nosema, and so on and implement appropriate controls. I normally advise that in this inspection you also remove two frames of comb/honeycomb from the edge of the brood box and place this in the middle of the brood nest. This helps you rotate your brood comb. The movement of the two combs of honey into the brood nest forces the bees to empty the comb and lay the brood in there.
These combs should be clean wax drawn on a new foundation, and this infusion of nice clean brood-rearing capacity into your brood-rearing area gives you a strong flush of really healthy, clean bees that make a world of difference to your spring build-up.
If you are into replacing queens if you see queen cups and cells, this is the time to consider this for swarm control. This is also a time when you can consider splits if your hives are building up rapidly and you wish to increase your hive count. If you are a new beekeeper, I would not recommend any fancy manipulations. Let your hives go through a natural cycle for the first few years – they will throw out swarms, and if you are lucky you can learn to catch these. New beekeepers tend to cause more trouble than good in a hive by trying fancy manipulations. The first few years of beekeeping are a good time to learn the natural cycle of bees.
Spring Advertisements
If you are starting beekeeping and have a bit of experience in bee handling this is your time to put out adverts to the police, fire department, hospitals, veterinary clinics, libraries, supermarkets, and wherever else you can think of that you can help people with problem bees. Where I am right now, it is the start of the swarming season and I receive 5 to 6 calls a day from people who phone and say “Hi, you don’t know me, but…” and I immediately say “Where are your bees?” and cut them short. They think I am a mind reader, but over the years I have learned that you do not need to have somebody tell you “there are some bees in my roof/dog kennel/bedside toybox/postbox/compost maker/etc and they have been there for two days and I think they have honey can you help me remove them.” Cut the call short and take control of it, and ask them to send you pictures of where the bees are, and how long they have been there, and then work out how to do the bee removal. The first prize is always a swarm hanging in a bush or a tree.
The reason you need to do bee removals when you start beekeeping is that this helps you to make a lot of mistakes with bees that are not yours. You can pull hives apart, sometimes destroying them, and learn a lot from your mistakes. You will also get stung a bit and build up your bee sting tolerance – this is very important. Once you have had two or three hundred stings, you get immune to beestings and that always gives you some street credibility and makes you look tough, and helps you get paid for the bee removals. This also helps you learn about bees and start to get a feel about when not to open a beehive!
Walking into a house after removing bees and giving the owner a chunk of comb and pulling a few stings out of your hands and arms while you chat about your fee helps you get a nice bonus often. People get oddly generous when you give them honey, and you have been stung. I once had a kind lady who gave me all of the tools in her late millionaire husband’s workshop as a “tip” for a bee removal I did. This amounted to a few thousand dollars worth of tools that I still use to this day. I personally cannot afford to buy the sort of quality tools millionaires buy. Bees are very fond of rich people’s houses, so this is also a nice way to meet potential investors.
Late Spring Inspection
This is the inspection we do as the bees are strong and building into the spring and summer honey flows. In this inspection, you would again look for signs of diseases (if need be bring an experienced beekeeper to help you) and look for swarm cells (if you want to control swarming). Your hive should have 8 or more frames of solid brood at this time of year, and you want to make sure that the capped brood has a nice solid brood pattern.
If a queen is not healthy she will give you a spotty-capped brood pattern which indicates that many of the eggs she produced did not hatch. A healthy queen lays a solid brood pattern, so the capped brood will be solid capped sells with few gaps. If you are in an area where replacing queens is possible, you would look at replacing a failing queen if the brood pattern is poor.
In this inspection, we will also ascertain if there is now a need to put supers on the hive to begin creating space for honey storage. I typically work on a rule that if I go to the hive in the evening and the bees are clustering in a beard on the front of the hive, and the top bars of the frames are covered in a layer of at least an inch of bees that the hive is ready to be supered up. Place another box on top of the strong hives, so that the bees can begin building combs and honey in this box.
Sometimes at this time of year, the bees can be a bit ratty and aggressive. If you open the hive at midday and they are cranky, that is when not to open a beehive. Rather open in the late evening as it cools a bit.
Young bees that have just hatched are the best producers of beeswax in a hive, hence in spring when you have a lot of young bees they can draw foundation wax to comb. This creates space for your bees to store honey. There is something very satisfying about working bees at this time of year as the hives can just explode in size. Sometimes you may end up needing to do weekly inspections if it is a good year, and look at placing additional boxes of combs for the bees to draw.
If there is a sudden dearth of nectar due to a dry spell, the bees can become fond of robbing. This is an example of a time in summer when not to open a beehive during the day. Rather open in the early evening.
Mid-Summer Inspections
Early summer is normally a strong honey flow, so inspect your hives once every two weeks to see if the honeycombs are packed and you need to remove combs for harvesting and replace them with empty combs. You can easily miss a honey flow if you do not inspect regularly during a wet healthy summer when the trees and flowering plants are productive.
As long as the honey flow is going, inspect every two weeks – in strong honey flows you may even need to inspect weekly. During a strong honey flow, the bees will largely ignore you and it is pretty difficult to disturb them. The air is warm, and the hive is generally not easily damaged.
Late-Summer Inspections
As the season winds down, the days get shorter, and the bees begin to sense the impending winter you will need to watch whether you need to remove supers and reduce the hive volume. You also need to start implementing control for small hive beetles more aggressively at this time, and if you are in an area with yellow jackets you need to start implementing wasp control. This is the time when bears and other pests are more likely to rob your hives.
When there are a lot of wasps around during the warmer parts of the day, this is a time when not to open a beehive, as they will gain entry into the hive.
Fall- Feeding and Inspections
This is the most important time of year for inspections. Fall management varies widely across the planet and it is important at this point to chat with an experienced beekeeper in your area. This is when you implement disease control, hive feeding, and so on. Each region has different protocols.
Winter
This is the time generally when not to open a beehive – unless you are maybe just taking a peak to see that your bees have enough candy sugar etc. Do not open hives in winter if you are in a cold area. This will kill your bees.
In warmer areas, it may be that you can open a hive in winter. Check with local experienced beekeepers.
Tips on inspecting a beehive
Remember when inspecting a hive, that if you do it wrong, you will cause yourself and the bees great distress. When you inspect hives make sure you are in a good confident headspace. Go for a run in the morning or do some exercise. This makes you confident. Do not spray yourself with perfume or cologne – and do not wash your hair with stinky shampoo. Bees can get confused and may find that some of your added odors mean something to them in their chemical language. Just work the bees a natural human.
When you inspect a hive make sure your smoker is well-lit and making nice soft white smoke, not blue smoke. Blue smoke is hot – white smoke is cool and has the greatest effect in calming bees. Put a few puffs in the hive, and a few around the lid – wait a few seconds, then a puff in the entrance again, and open the hive slowly so as to avoid all bumps and jerky movements.
When inspecting the hive, try to cause the bees as little harm as possible – if they get out of hand, close the hive up and come back another day. If the wind starts to blow cold air in the hive, close up and come back another day. Bees are very sensitive to cold, and you can really mess a hive up with cold air.
If you treat the bees with the utmost respect, they will return the favor. They are ladies and respond well to gentle, firm treatment, much like is the case with ourselves as humans too. We like gentle boundaried humans.
Conclusion
This is a broad overview. Speak to local experienced beekeepers to find out when not to open a beehive in your area, but generally if you apply the above and adapt it to local conditions you should be spot on the track to having happy healthy bees. As you gain experience you will get better and better at working out when not to open a beehive.
Dr. Garth A. Cambray is a Canadian/South African entrepreneur and beekeeper with 28 years of experience in apiculture and specializes in adding value to honey. His Ph.D. research developed a new advanced continuous fermentation method for making mead that has resulted in a number of companies globally being able to access markets for mead. His company, Makana Meadery, exports honey mead to the USA where it is available to discerning connoisseurs. He has also developed technologies to commercially manufacture organic honey vinegar in Zambia for export globally. He holds a few patents globally in the ethanol industry and believes in technology and knowledge transfer for human development and environmental sustainability. One of his proudest achievements is the fact that the wind farm he started at one of his old apiary sites has essentially made his hometown carbon neutral.