How often do you inspect a hive?

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Through the years, I have experienced that my hives that are inspected the most, prosper the most.  I am trying to figure how often is best, Im considering 2-3 week intervals for inspections.

I consider inspecting to be intrusive and my nature is to leave a hive alone.  Through the years as trials, I have inspected some hives every week, not a single hive absconded or failed to my surprise.  I figured these bees got used to my weekly inspections.  This acceptance is contrary to what I would assume.

I have trials in which I did the opposite, that is to NOT inspect unless a problem was detected.  A sort of leave alone policy.  Some hives would go 8-10 weeks without inspections.  Several of these hives failed: absconded, beetles, supersedure.

So as a hobbyist with 20 hives or less I am considering inspecting every 2 weeks IN THIS AREA.  This is an area eaten up with small hive beetles, a bigger threat than varroa mite to me.

I am very aware of the hive inspect, causing beetle jail break and 5 days later subsequent larva destroying a hive.  I use freeze kill to eliminate all small hive beetle so I do not experience the larva slime comb.  I also use screened bottom boards baited with substitute pollen and surrounded by diatomaceous earth to control the beetles.

I would appreciate your thoughts.
Blessings

[iddee]

I lift the back of each hive on each visit.

I inspect when the weight changes significantly, when I see a change in flight activity, or when I just want an update on hive condition.

I like to have a vague idea of each hive condition at all times. That means inspecting at different intervals with different hives.

[BeeMaster2]

Van,
I use screen top boards with insulation boards. This allows me to see the bees on top without disturbing them and I watch the entrances for signs of problem.
I do spring and fall inspection as well as splits.
I have seen the SHB act like they own my observation hive every time I disturb the brood frames. 3days later the bees are removing a lot of young SHB larvae and eggs. I really don?t like giving the SHB a chance of taking over a hive just because I want to see how they are doing.
Back when I started beekeeping, my father really got on my case for inspecting the hives without a good reason. He raised bees with no SHBs at all.
Jim

[eltalia]

Not intending to be read as "smoking pipe in all wigwams" I was with Jim's Dad for many years inclusive of those spent as a commercial pollinator. Downsizing in Retirement and relocating to an area I found to have SHB I changed to mimic Wally's "need to own a vague idea of each colony", admittedly much of that done as "drive by inspect"... as experience allows.
Yet hearing the thrust if your post Van I have to offer a 'standard', and that would go like - two days post every cycle, so around 23/4 days. After an adjustment/manipulation a maximum of 10 days to cover those things that can change In a solid flow, a topend check every five days.

All that said Nature can often decide for you. Currently I am 'quiet' as we have had no reticulated power since Sunday night.   and as now there is a significant rain event - "The WET Season" - I doubt any repair to the line before Saturday, maybe Monday. No 'electricity means no phones an' certainly no Internet, definitely no driving off hardstand to check on hives.
Last Saturday I did swarm control on one of the production
colony's in an out yard and should have been back there today but cannot get back in there with flooded creeks whatever..so it is Town only to stock up on me WeetBix[tm].

For those reading me for the first time..?.,our Wet Season is everyone elses's "Winter". A tricky time for B'keepn in the Tropics. If a colony is going to go down..?.,now in these conditions is the time..an often you cannot get near them, anywhere.

http://www.bo m.gov.au/products/IDR192.loop.shtml#skip

Bill

[little john]

Through the years as trials, I have inspected some hives every week, not a single hive absconded or failed to my surprise. 

Good morning Van ...
Doesn't the answer lie within that single line ?  I'd have thought so.  Does not the answer lie in what has been proven to work, rather than within issues related to 'the intrusion factor' - which I accept is important, but must surely come secondary to the proven ability of any procedure which results in such maximum survival.

So personally - unless there's something I've missed (like work-load issues), then I'd be inclined to stick to what has been shown to work, and to work extremely well !
LJ

[GSF]

Van, I appreciate your post. I am going to designate about 5-6 hives for our beginner beekeeper's class. These will be opened far more than the others. I'll keep this in mind and compare.

[bwallace23350]

I do it a couple of times in the spring and one or twice during the summer and a couple times in the fall.

[Acebird]

I think what is needed in this tread is to define "inspect".  If lifting a hive, observing the entrance or popping the top is considered "inspect" then it can be done every day.  If the term "inspect" means to pull frames from the brood nest then I will give the vague answer of when needed.
As a rule I don't pull frames, do sampling or intrude on the brood nest.  I do pull the tray from under the hive to check for mite fall but I have been lax at that too.  I pop the top more frequently in the spring to make sure there is room for the nectar coming in.  My limit is 7 medium boxes high.  I have gone to 8 if I am confident they will not fill it.  I am more likely to do it now that I have a box jack that allows me to put an escape board in and void the boxes of bees.
I have done risky splits (too early) to see how far I could push the envelope.  If that results in a LW hive I dump it and clean up the equipment.  Now that I have a good feeling on what is early there is no need to push it.
My goal as a bee haver is to maintain around 3 hives and presently I am at 2.  I have enough equipment to run 4 hives if they all aren't 7 boxes high.  I am going into my 7th season and I have purchased bees a total of 3 times.  The last time was to experience getting them as a package and they did not make it through their first winter.  I could be wrong but my personal opinion of packages is they are might bombs that have no genetics to co-exist with the parasite.  They simply expand and make honey and are destined to die without the beekeepers help.

[Michael Bush]

When I'm working an apiary to raise queens I'm in most hives most weeks.  Certainly every hive every two weeks.  I pretty much have to be.  My outyards don't get nearly that attention, but would they benefit from it if I had the time?  Sometimes they would.

[Beeboy01]

I'll pop the top about every week or ten days during the summer checking on the honey flow and SHB population. Depending on the activity in the hive I'll check the brood nest looking for queen cells and signs of over crowding about every other top inspection. Off season I look in the top about every two or three weeks. Keeping track of the hives with quick inspections is beneficial, it is possible to spot and take care of potential problems before the hive is at risk.
  I've finally learned it is better to be proactive and keep on top with inspections instead of trying to pick up the pieces after a hive crashes.
   

[beepro]

Only inspect when there is a reason to.  Make inspection as part of your hive management.  On
swarm days inspect every 2 weeks to see if there are any QCs.   I like to inspect for mites on bees
emergence day.

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

Beepro, a queen egg for 3 days, then 13 days later the queen will hatch. Miss a single egg in a cup and 2 weeks later you will have virgin queen, not queen cells.
Blessings

[little john]

When I'm working an apiary to raise queens I'm in most hives most weeks.  Certainly every hive every two weeks.  I pretty much have to be. My outyards don't get nearly that attention, but would they benefit from it if I had the time?  Sometimes they would.

MB and I don't see eye to eye on quite a few things, but on this one we agree totally.  If you're the sort of beekeeper who runs 'leave-alone' hives, then two inspections a year might cut it - but when queen-rearing it's a whole different ball-game.  People sometimes ask me what precautions I take against swarming ... I don't ... the full-sized hives very rarely get any chance to swarm, as I'm forever pinching frames of brood or bees from them !  And of course, with such frequent inspections, the production of swarm cells can usually be spotted in the early stages when action can be swiftly taken.
LJ