Practical Skills: Hive Handling, Inspection and Record Keeping
Practical questions test safe hive handling, inspection judgement and record keeping.
Inspection routine
Inspect on a clear, warm day during a nectar flow, preferably late morning. Light the smoker, give a little smoke at the entrance, wait, open the lid, and work from the edge. Check brood pattern, queen presence, food stores, queen cells, disease and pests. Replace frames gently and close the hive.
Handling
Use the hive tool to separate boxes; never jerk frames. Hold frames over the hive to avoid dropping the queen. Mark or clip queens only when needed. Catch swarms in a swarm net or box and hive them in the evening.
Records
Keep a hive card and apiary register: colony ID, date, queen status, frames of brood, stores, supers, disease, treatments and yield. Records reveal queen loss, swarming and seasonal trends.
Worked example
During an inspection you find sealed queen cells along the lower edge of a brood frame. Reasoning: these are swarm cells, not supersedure cells, because of their position and number. The colony is preparing to swarm; remove the queen to a nuc or split the colony, and leave one good cell in the parent colony.
Traps
Do not inspect in cold, rainy or dearth conditions. Do not over-smoke. Do not leave frames exposed to direct sun. Do not skip records after treatment. Do not assume every queen cell means swarming; check position and colony condition.