On average this is a weekly task during the bee season and starts when the weather warms sufficiently to open the hives. Rule of thumb: if it is comfortable outside in shirt sleeves, it is ok to open a hive.
There are those who will bother their bees a great deal less. Personally I would like to check them loads more, but that would be for my personal satisfaction and would be very disruptive to the colony.
My first collection request came as a bit of a shock.
It was only my second summer when I found an answer machine message out of the blue from a very worried couple who had been given my phone number. That happens a lot.
Hive number 8 came through the winter well. However. It became apparent that the colony was not building up.
The queen appeared sluggish and the laying pattern was not all it could be. I decided to introduce a new queen from British stock from an acknowledged breeder.
