Since I installed the bees this spring, I have been checking on them once a week. With the fake queen cell scare I have checked them twice a week. I will not be getting into my hive until Saturday but I was wondering what the average/best amount of checking for a first year hive or just any hive for that matter. I live in Texas and we are in a serious drought right now so I am opening the top to feed a ton. My bees are very healthy and overflowing when I open so the whole hive is thriving. All books say so many different things and I get confused. Thanks!
"All books say so many different things and I get confused"..... :laugh:
Well lisbeth, Welcome to the world of being a BEEK! One of the truest things I read early on in my research to start beekeeping was that if you ask 3 Beeks what's the best way to do something, you get 4 different answers. :laugh:
Another great piece of advice was, You have to find what works best for you. I've adopted the approach of asking anyone and everyone their opinion, taking it all in, weighing my options, and going in whatever direction that I fell most comfortable with....and not giving it much of a second thought. If you allow yourself to, you'll go crazy second guessing every decision.
All that being said, I'm going to disagree with my friend Joe D. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Since starting with my bees in January, as tempting as it's been at times, I've adopted a role of not allowing myself to go into any given hive more than once a week and in several cases I've not disturbed them for several weeks running. I think it's commonly accepted that opening a hive sets back their progress anywhere from 1 to several days, it's important to give them time to do what bees need to do undisturbed.
Realize, there's also varying degrees of "going into a hive"...It depends what you mean by "checking a hive". You mention feeding...Do you use inner covers? I don't consider removing an outer cover to replace a jar of syrup on top an inner cover as "going into a hive", but I guess it qualifies as "checking a hive".
Best of luck with your bees! :)