KathyP. A question.
As a new beek, and if I think they are OK, when is it good to open and check to the hive. In other words... How do I decide when is too early to open the hive, verses too late for a cramped brood box and queen cells. I don't want a swarm. But I don't want to open too early.
Bob I feel sure that you are anxiously awaiting kathy's answer. I look forward to it also. In the meantime here is some food for thought. Being you are from Middle Georgia. Location and conditions play an important part. I am thinking that the guidelines to answer that you will get by our experts here will probably be something like, ''so many days or weeks before the spring flow and perhaps''. ''when the temperatures reach a certain temperature and holds consistently.''
To add to that, You see, even wax moths can make a difference according to time of year and location.
Quotes from Kathy and Van recent posted Jan. 20 Snow Megalodon.
Kathy
For those of us who have winters, yes, inspections can kill. Wax moth won't be a problem in winter. There's no problem with taking a quick check under the top when it's warm enough for them to break cluster and fly to check the food you have put on. If it's too cold for them to fly, stay out of the hive.
Here I close them up in October and don't look again until February unless we have unusually warm weather earlier and starvation is possible.
Van
Winter is relative to location. In N Arkansas my wax moth traps were catching moths the first week of this January. My bees fly at 43F to 47F whereas wax moths fly at lower temperatures.