# what time of day is the best time to inspect the bee hive



## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

If it were me at those temps, I would choose mid day. Foragers will be out, you wont have as many to contend with.


----------



## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

arcowandbeegirl said:


> If it were me at those temps, I would choose mid day. Foragers will be out, you wont have as many to contend with.


Thanks Gal:

Mid day works well for me. Your name sounds like mine (Arkansas cow and bee girl). I'm a txcowandgeeguy. Yep, cows and bees. Thanks again, Lazy


----------



## T0ADMAN (Aug 5, 2011)

Don't inspect in the early morning when it is cold and partially dark. It makes them very angry 

I think anytime that it is warm, sunny and the bees are active is a good time to inspect.


----------



## Steven Ogborn (Jun 3, 2011)

Back in July, August, and September, I was trying to get into my top bar hives before 10am in the morning. The foragers were
leaving out before 630 a.m. This was because I was getting honeycomb collapses if I opened the hives in the 100+heat of the day.
Now I'm waiting for it to "warm up" in the afternoon. So, my times are temperature dependant.
The bees haven't had a change in temper though. Sweet bees as usual. morning or afternoon.
I do wait for the foragers to get going though.


----------



## RAK (May 2, 2010)

2 pm...


----------



## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

Thanks to everyone. As an add-on, how do you look for the queen. I have extreme difficulty finding a queen, and I have good vision and am somewhat noted as a hunter and shooter. But, I only find a queen about one-third of the time. There must be something I don't know (wow, as a first year beekeeper that is an under statement). Anyway, looking for a tip.


----------



## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

She will most likely be on brood frames with eggs. Start scanning those frames in a circular motion working from the outside in covering the entire frame slowly and methodically. It's important that you relax and have confidence that you'll find her. It's been very helpful for me to practice often. If the weather is good, I look for the queen every other hive inspection. Most of the time I find them but there are days where I've just taken to long and have to close it up without seeing her. I'm much better now than I was before with a little practice.


----------



## cg3 (Jan 16, 2011)

Well, it's easy to find a Queen in San Francisco.


----------



## lazy shooter (Jun 3, 2011)

cg3 said:


> Well, it's easy to find a Queen in San Francisco.


Would it be easy to find a "productive queen?" I haven't been to San Francisco in 10 years, but I will agree that even then it was easy to find a queen.


----------



## cg3 (Jan 16, 2011)

They are not good breeders.


----------



## crankhandl (Nov 23, 2014)

Personally I never go below the third box, as I believe that this is their territory, although I was surprised to see drone brood in the 4th box, but it is spring here and there is not much room anywhere else


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The best time to open a hive is right after you smoke them.


----------



## texman034 (Feb 19, 2015)

This is my first year as well and from tx. I have found it easier to see eggs when the sun is over my shoulder and not high in the sky. I also learned to find queen easier by googling queen bee pic and scrolling through the many many pics the pics with other bees included were most helpful. I have also found to not look too close for the queen. When looking for eggs I never see her. I try to not focus too hard on looking at individual bees. I also think having a 5frame nuc helped a lot, less frames to look through


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> I have extreme difficulty finding a queen, and I have good vision and am somewhat noted as a hunter and shooter. But, I only find a queen about one-third of the time.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm


----------

