When to do your first hive inspection UK

When to do your first hive inspection is a question we get asked a lot. This is very dependent on the weather. 

Generally speaking, it's not advised to inspect my hives into the first week of April. This gives plenty of time for the colony to have built up enough to justify an inspection. 

Remember if you do an inspection, you risk killing the queen, which is very likely to result in colony collapse early in the year as a result of few drones. 

What should the weather be like? 

The weather needs to be sunny or cloudy with a temperature of about 13+ degrees. Any closer than this and you risk damaging the hive brood (chilled brood).

What to look for on your first inspection?

• Check for eggs. It's important to know that the queen is laying this early in the year. 
  
• Check for disease. Cononies typically show signs of disease early in the year. This is because they are under lots of stress caused by brood rearing. Look for common diseases like European foulbrood and nosemia.
• Check for food stores. Rapidly expanding brood nests require lots of food. If there isn't good weather (lots of rain) then the bees become dependent on the stores in their hive. Check to see if they have good stores of food. A frame or two of brood is sufficient to get them through couple of weeks of bad weather. 
• Check for drones. Present drones means that the colony could swarm. Most colonies won't swarm until there are drones present. It's always a good idea to see if there are any drones in the colony as this gives a gauge to know if a colony could swarm.
• Check for swarm cells. Typically, you wouldn't expect to see swarm cells early in the year on your first inspection. However, if you do see swarm cells, it's recommended that you destroy them rather than letting them swarm.