Beekeeping Tips
Your first inspection of the season sets the baseline for everything that follows. Here's what to assess, what to record, and what actions to take based on what you find.
Spring inspections are the most important of the year. Whatever state your colony is in right now determines everything about its trajectory through swarm season, nectar flow, and into next winter. Here's how to approach them.
Wait for a day that's at least 55°F (13°C) with no wind and no rain. Bees clustering for warmth don't want to be disturbed, and an inspection in cold weather can chill open brood fast. In most northern climates, that means late March through April for the first full inspection — though you can do a quick winter cluster check through the entrance earlier.
Is the colony alive? How large is the cluster? A surviving colony coming out of winter should show bees covering at least 3–4 frames. Fewer than that isn't necessarily fatal, but it's a weak start that will take time to recover.
Look for signs the colony starved: bees head-down in cells, a small dead cluster, no honey remaining near the cluster. Starvation is preventable — it's a reminder to leave more stores going into winter.
Find eggs. If you see eggs (tiny white grains standing upright in cells), the queen was laying within the last 3 days. You don't need to find the queen herself — eggs confirm she's present and functioning.
Assess brood pattern quality. Healthy brood is compact: mostly capped cells with few skipped cells. A spotty, scattered pattern can indicate a failing queen, disease, or both.
Do your first alcohol wash of the season now. Don't skip this. Colonies that survived winter may have been artificially suppressed by the broodless period, and mite populations will accelerate once brood-rearing resumes.
Pull 300 bees from the brood nest (not the entrance, not the honey frames — from where the brood is). If your count is ≥2%, treat before the colony builds to full strength.
Check for honey — especially in early spring when there may be little coming in yet. A colony needs roughly 20–25 lbs of honey to safely get through a two-week cold snap in spring. If stores are low, feed 1:1 sugar syrup to stimulate the queen and supplement with a pollen substitute patty if natural pollen isn't coming in yet.
Is the colony crowded? Spring buildup can be faster than expected. If bees are filling every frame and there's no open space for the queen to lay, they may start thinking about swarming earlier than you'd like. Add a box if they're within a frame or two of filling the current one.
After every inspection, record:
HiveHelper structures all of this for you — open the app before you open the hive, and you'll have a complete record when you're done.
Spring is the time when management decisions have the highest leverage. A colony that gets off to a strong start in March is a completely different animal by July.
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