Hive Inspection Checklist

A thorough inspection is the foundation of good hive management. This checklist walks you through every phase of a hive visit, from gathering your tools at home through closing up and recording notes. Work through each category in order. Check off items as you complete them -- your progress is saved automatically in your browser so you can pick up where you left off if you get interrupted. When you start a new inspection, hit the Reset All button to clear the checklist and start fresh.

This checklist is designed for a two-deep Langstroth setup without a queen excluder in Salem, Utah. Some items include specific notes about no-excluder management, such as checking both boxes for the queen and watching for brood in honey supers.

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Before Leaving Home

Details (5 items)
  • Smoker, fuel, and lighter — test that smoker stays lit before driving out
  • Hive tool (J-hook style preferred for Langstroth frame removal)
  • Bee brush or fern frond for gently moving bees
  • Veil and gloves (or plan to go gloveless if comfortable)
  • Spray bottle with light sugar syrup for calming bees without smoke
Details (5 items)
  • Ideal inspection temperature is 60°F or above with light wind
  • Avoid opening hives if rain is expected within the hour
  • Afternoon inspections are best — foragers are out, fewer bees to manage
  • In Salem, watch for canyon winds picking up after 2 PM in spring
  • Check for incoming cold fronts — do not leave hives open in dropping temps
Details (5 items)
  • What was the brood pattern like last time?
  • Were there queen cells or cups noted?
  • Any issues flagged for follow-up (low stores, spotty brood, mites)?
  • Bring a notebook or phone for recording this visit's observations
  • Note how many days since the last inspection to calibrate expectations
Details (5 items)
  • Empty super or frames if colony may need more space
  • Feeder and syrup if colony was light on stores
  • Mite testing kit (alcohol wash jar, alcohol, collection cup) if scheduled
  • Queen marking pen if you plan to find and mark an unmarked queen
  • Extra frames with drawn comb — worth their weight in gold during buildup

Entrance Observations

Details (5 items)
  • Steady stream of bees coming and going indicates a healthy, active colony
  • Very low traffic on a warm day could mean queenlessness or colony decline
  • Frantic, disorganized flight at the entrance may indicate robbing in progress
  • Compare traffic to neighboring hives — a noticeable difference is diagnostic
  • Early morning sluggishness is normal; wait until mid-morning for best assessment
Details (4 items)
  • Young bees face the hive and fly in small expanding arcs — this is normal and healthy
  • Orientation flights typically occur in early-to-mid afternoon
  • Lots of orientation flights indicate a strong population of emerging nurse bees
  • If you see orientation flights from a newly hived package or nuc, the queen is likely accepted
Details (5 items)
  • A few dead bees is normal — undertaker bees remove dead daily
  • Dozens of dead bees with tongues out may suggest pesticide exposure
  • Dead pupae being dragged out can indicate hygienic behavior (good) or disease (investigate)
  • Crawling bees with deformed wings strongly suggest Varroa virus transmission
  • Piles of dead bees after winter may just be normal spring cleanout
Details (4 items)
  • Bees bringing in pollen means there is brood to feed — a strong positive sign
  • Note pollen colors to identify forage sources (yellow dandelion, orange fruit tree, gray clover)
  • No pollen coming in during a flow period may indicate queenlessness
  • Heavy pollen loads in spring confirm colony is in active buildup
Details (5 items)
  • A few bees at the entrance checking arrivals is normal guard behavior
  • Excessive guard activity and wrestling may indicate robbing attempts
  • Calm entrance with bees freely walking in suggests no robbing pressure
  • During a dearth, heightened guard behavior is expected and healthy
  • If robbing is happening, reduce entrance immediately to a single bee width

Brood Nest Assessment

Details (5 items)
  • A solid, compact brood pattern with few empty cells indicates a strong, well-mated queen
  • Scattered or shotgun brood pattern may indicate a failing queen, inbreeding, or disease
  • Look for the characteristic concentric rings: eggs in center, larvae, then capped brood
  • Healthy capped brood should be slightly convex with tan/brown cappings
  • Sunken or perforated cappings are a red flag for American Foulbrood — investigate immediately
Details (5 items)
  • Eggs (tiny white grains standing upright in cell bottoms) confirm the queen was here 0-3 days ago
  • C-shaped larvae in royal jelly confirm active feeding and queen-right status
  • Capped brood takes 12 days to emerge for workers — use this to estimate laying timeline
  • If only capped brood and no eggs or larvae, the queen may have stopped laying or is gone
  • Presence of all three stages (eggs, larvae, capped) is the single best indicator of queen-rightness
Details (5 items)
  • Some empty cells in a brood frame are normal — bees use them for short-term nectar storage
  • A ring of empty polished cells around brood means the queen has room to lay
  • If the brood nest is entirely backfilled with nectar, the queen is being squeezed out — swarm risk
  • Empty cells with no eggs in spring may mean the queen has not ramped up yet
  • Cells that were cleaned out by hygienic bees may appear as scattered empties — check for mite-damaged pupae
Details (5 items)
  • Excellent: 90%+ of cells in the brood area are filled with same-age brood
  • Good: 80-90% filled with minor gaps — acceptable for most production colonies
  • Poor: Less than 70% filled or very scattered — consider requeening
  • Multiple eggs per cell (especially on cell walls) indicates a laying worker, not a queen
  • A newly mated queen may have a small but tight pattern that expands over 2-3 weeks

Queen-Right Signs

Details (5 items)
  • Fresh eggs stand straight up in the cell; older eggs tilt and then lie flat as larvae
  • Finding eggs is better than finding the queen — it confirms she was laying within 3 days
  • Use the sun over your shoulder to illuminate cell bottoms for egg visibility
  • On dark comb, eggs can be very hard to see — a headlamp or flashlight helps enormously
  • If you cannot find eggs, do not panic; look for very small C-shaped larvae as backup evidence
Details (4 items)
  • Small white C-shaped larvae floating in a pool of milky royal jelly confirm active brood rearing
  • Larvae grow rapidly — day-old larvae are tiny; by day 5 they nearly fill the cell
  • Dry larvae without jelly may indicate nutritional stress or nurse bee shortage
  • Larvae should be pearly white; discolored (yellow or brown) larvae may indicate disease
Details (6 items)
  • Look for her on brood frames — she is usually on a frame with eggs or young larvae
  • The queen moves away from light, so check the side of the frame facing the hive body first
  • She has a longer abdomen, moves deliberately, and worker bees make way for her
  • A marked queen is much easier to spot — consider marking her if she is unmarked
  • Do not spend more than a few minutes looking; eggs are sufficient proof she is present
  • In a two-deep setup without an excluder, check both boxes if eggs are not found in the first
Details (5 items)
  • Emergency cells are built on the face of a brood comb, converting a worker larva to a queen
  • Multiple emergency cells across several frames indicates the colony knows it is queenless
  • If you see emergency cells AND eggs, the colony may be superseding (replacing) an aging queen
  • Destroying emergency cells in a queenless colony will doom it — only remove if you are requeening
  • A single emergency cell may be a practice cup; multiple charged cells is the real signal

Brood Pattern Quality

Details (4 items)
  • Frame after frame of wall-to-wall capped brood with very few gaps is the gold standard
  • A solid pattern means the queen is well-mated with good genetics
  • Solid patterns produce large populations that excel at honey production
  • Even great queens show some gaps — cells used for pollen or nectar storage within the brood nest
Details (5 items)
  • Scattered capped cells with many empty cells in between is a spotty pattern
  • Can indicate a poorly mated queen, old queen, or inbreeding
  • May also indicate disease — hygienic bees removing sick larvae creates gaps
  • If spotty pattern persists over 2-3 inspections, plan to requeen
  • A new queen from a nuc or local breeder can transform colony productivity
Details (5 items)
  • A queen occasionally lays two eggs in a cell, especially when ramping up in spring
  • Multiple eggs stuck to cell walls (not centered on the bottom) indicate a laying worker
  • Laying workers develop when a colony has been queenless for 3+ weeks
  • Laying worker colonies produce only drone brood — the colony will dwindle and die without intervention
  • Resolving a laying worker situation requires combining with a queen-right colony or introducing a mated queen with brood
Details (4 items)
  • Bullet-shaped raised cappings in worker cells means drones are being raised in worker comb
  • This is a strong sign of a drone-laying queen or laying workers
  • Normal drone brood is in larger drone-sized cells, usually at frame edges or bottom
  • A queen that only lays unfertilized eggs has run out of sperm — she must be replaced

Food Stores

Details (5 items)
  • Capped honey is fully cured and will not ferment — this is the colony's reliable reserve
  • A full deep frame of honey weighs about 8-10 pounds
  • In a two-deep setup, the colony should always have at least 2-3 frames of capped honey
  • Going into winter in Salem, the colony needs 60-80 pounds of stored honey
  • Honey arching over the brood nest is a good sign of adequate stores
Details (5 items)
  • Pollen is stored near the brood nest — it is essential protein for raising brood
  • Cells packed with colorful pollen (beebread) indicate diverse forage and good nutrition
  • Low pollen stores in spring can limit brood rearing and slow colony buildup
  • Pollen substitute patties can help if natural pollen is scarce, but real pollen is always better
  • Multiple colors of pollen mean bees are foraging on diverse plant sources — a healthy sign
Details (5 items)
  • Uncapped cells with a glossy liquid shimmer contain fresh, uncured nectar
  • Nectar shimmer near the brood nest is normal; nectar backfilling the brood nest is a swarm signal
  • During a strong flow, supers should have visible fresh nectar being deposited
  • If supers are filling with nectar but none is capped, bees are still curing it — give them time
  • Nectar in the brood chamber during dearth is a sign bees are consuming reserves, not bringing in new
Details (5 items)
  • Tilt the back of the hive gently — a heavy hive tips reluctantly
  • With practice you can tell the difference between 40 and 80 pounds of stores by feel
  • Check weight monthly in winter to monitor consumption without opening the hive
  • A hive that suddenly feels light needs immediate feeding (fondant in winter, syrup in other seasons)
  • Keep a log of weight estimates to track consumption over time

Space and Congestion

Details (5 items)
  • If every frame is covered with bees and there are bees on the inner cover, the colony needs space
  • Bees packed tightly between frames with no room to work triggers swarm impulse
  • In a no-excluder setup, add supers before the top box is 70-80% full of bees
  • If the top deep is wall-to-wall bees and brood, add a super immediately regardless of calendar date
  • Always err on the side of adding space too early rather than too late
Details (5 items)
  • Bees filling brood cells with nectar instead of leaving them for the queen is a strong swarm indicator
  • This squeezes the queen's laying space and the colony interprets it as "no more room"
  • Adding supers with drawn comb gives bees an outlet for nectar storage and relieves pressure
  • If backfilling is happening, check for queen cells immediately
  • Opening the brood nest by inserting an empty drawn frame in the center can provide temporary relief
Details (4 items)
  • Bright white wax on frame tops and between boxes means a strong nectar flow is on
  • White wax burr comb between frames indicates bees have excess wax and energy — they need more space
  • During a flow, white wax production is normal and positive — just manage the space
  • If you see white wax and have not yet added supers, you are behind schedule
Details (4 items)
  • Bees linking legs in chains between frames (festooning) are building wax or measuring comb spacing
  • Festooning during a flow is normal and indicates active construction
  • Extensive festooning with no available comb to build on suggests the colony needs drawn frames or foundation
  • Festooning combined with other swarm signs (queen cells, congestion) increases urgency to act

Swarm Indicators

Details (5 items)
  • Small acorn-shaped wax cups on frame bottoms are "practice cups" — common and usually not alarming
  • Bees build and tear down queen cups all season as a contingency measure
  • Cups become concerning only when they contain an egg or larva (then they are "charged")
  • Check every queen cup by looking inside — an empty cup is low priority
  • Queen cups on the face of comb (not the bottom) are more likely emergency or supersedure cells
Details (5 items)
  • A charged cell contains a larva floating in royal jelly — the colony is actively raising a new queen
  • Multiple charged cells on frame bottoms strongly indicate swarm preparation
  • Once cells are charged, the colony has been planning to swarm for at least several days
  • Simply removing charged cells rarely stops swarming — the impulse is systemic
  • If you find charged cells, consider splitting the colony or implementing another swarm management strategy
Details (5 items)
  • A capped queen cell with a textured peanut-shell surface means a virgin queen is developing inside
  • The swarm typically leaves on a warm day shortly after the first queen cell is capped
  • If you find capped cells and reduced bee population, the swarm may have already left
  • Capped queen cells take about 8 days from capping to emergence
  • If splitting, use frames with capped queen cells in the queenless split for fastest queen establishment
Details (4 items)
  • Workers slim the queen down before swarming so she can fly — she stops or reduces laying
  • If a previously prolific queen suddenly has a small brood nest, check for queen cells
  • Reduced laying combined with congestion and queen cells is the classic pre-swarm triad
  • The queen may be harder to find because workers are restricting her feeding

Drone Brood Assessment

Details (4 items)
  • Normal drone brood is found at frame edges, bottom corners, and on dedicated drone comb
  • Drone brood in the center of worker frames suggests the queen is running out of sperm
  • Some drone brood is natural and healthy — drones are needed for mating with virgin queens
  • Colonies typically raise drones from March through September
Details (5 items)
  • 5-15% drone brood is normal for a healthy colony during drone season
  • More than 20% drone brood may indicate the colony is investing too heavily in reproduction
  • Excessive drone brood combined with swarm cells suggests strong reproductive drive
  • Zero drone brood in May-June is unusual and may indicate colony stress
  • Drone brood also serves as Varroa mite traps — mites preferentially infest drone cells
Details (5 items)
  • First drone brood in Salem typically appears in late March to early April
  • Peak drone production coincides with swarm season (April-May)
  • Colonies evict drones in fall as they prepare for winter — this is normal and expected
  • Seeing drones being dragged out of the hive in September-October is healthy colony behavior
  • Drones present in late fall may indicate a queenless colony that is not preparing for winter properly

Disease and Pest Scan

Details (5 items)
  • White or gray mummified larvae in cells or at the entrance indicate chalkbrood fungal infection
  • Chalkbrood is stress-related and often appears in spring when colonies are growing but nights are cold
  • Mild chalkbrood usually resolves as the colony grows and warms up
  • Persistent chalkbrood may indicate poor ventilation, weak colony genetics, or excessive moisture
  • Requeening with hygienic stock can eliminate chronic chalkbrood problems
Details (6 items)
  • American Foulbrood (AFB) produces a distinctive rotten or sour smell
  • Sunken, greasy, or perforated cappings on brood cells are visual indicators
  • The rope test: poke a toothpick into a suspect cell; if the contents stretch out in a ropy string, it is likely AFB
  • AFB is a reportable disease in Utah — contact the state apiarist if confirmed
  • Infected equipment must be burned — AFB spores survive for decades and will reinfect
  • European Foulbrood (EFB) shows twisted, discolored larvae but is less serious and can resolve with requeening
Details (5 items)
  • Bees with crumpled, stunted, or vestigial wings are showing Deformed Wing Virus symptoms
  • DWV is transmitted by Varroa mites — its presence confirms high mite load
  • Even a few DWV bees at the entrance means mite levels are critical and treatment is urgent
  • Colonies with visible DWV may not survive winter without immediate mite treatment
  • Monitor for DWV year-round but especially August through October when mite populations peak
Details (5 items)
  • Small, dark, fast-moving beetles on the inner cover or frame tops are small hive beetles (SHB)
  • SHB are less problematic in Utah's dry climate than in humid southeastern states
  • Strong colonies typically control SHB by corralling them; weak colonies get overwhelmed
  • SHB larvae create a slimy mess that ferments honey and ruins comb
  • Traps (oil traps between frames) can help manage SHB in problem hives
Details (5 items)
  • Silky webbing tunneled through comb indicates wax moth larvae infestation
  • Wax moths primarily attack stored comb and weak colonies — strong colonies keep them out
  • Store unused supers with good airflow or freeze frames to kill moth eggs
  • If wax moth has destroyed comb, the frames can be scraped clean and reused with new foundation
  • Greater wax moth larvae are large cream-colored caterpillars; lesser wax moth are much smaller

Mite Monitoring

Details (5 items)
  • Look for reddish-brown oval mites on the thorax or abdomen of adult bees
  • Phoretic mites (on adult bees) represent only a fraction of the total mite population in the hive
  • If you can easily spot mites on bees, the infestation is already severe
  • Check drone brood by uncapping with a fork — mites preferentially infest drone cells
  • Visual checks are not reliable for quantifying mite load — always follow up with a wash or roll
Details (6 items)
  • Test every colony individually — mite levels vary hugely between hives in the same apiary
  • Alcohol wash is the gold standard: collect 300 bees (half cup) from a brood frame, wash in alcohol
  • Sugar roll is a non-lethal alternative but slightly less accurate
  • Test at least 3 times per year: spring (April), mid-summer (June-July), and late summer (August)
  • Record results in a log to track mite population trends over time
  • Treatment thresholds vary by season — see the mite monitoring schedule for current guidelines
Details (5 items)
  • Sticky boards placed under a screened bottom board capture naturally falling mites over 24-72 hours
  • Count mites on the board and divide by number of days to get daily mite drop
  • Sticky boards underestimate true mite load but can show trends over time
  • More useful as a monitoring tool between washes than as a primary diagnostic
  • Grease the board with cooking spray or petroleum jelly to trap mites effectively

Closing Up

Details (6 items)
  • Replace frames in the same order and orientation they were in — bees build comb to specific spacing
  • Ensure frame spacing is correct and frames are pushed together with normal bee space
  • Make sure boxes are aligned and sitting flat with no gaps for robber bees or weather
  • Replace the inner cover and outer cover, ensuring ventilation notch is positioned correctly
  • In a no-excluder setup, be extra careful not to roll the queen when sliding boxes back together
  • If the queen was spotted in the upper box, consider waiting a moment for her to move before reassembly
Details (5 items)
  • Small entrance for weak colonies, new packages, or during robbing season
  • Medium or full entrance for strong colonies during a nectar flow
  • Reduce entrance immediately if you see signs of robbing
  • In Salem's hot July-August, strong colonies may need the full entrance open for ventilation
  • Mouse guards (metal reducers with small holes) go on in October and stay on through March
Details (7 items)
  • Note queen status (seen, eggs found, or not confirmed)
  • Record brood pattern quality and approximate number of frames of brood
  • Log food stores estimate (frames of honey, pollen status)
  • Note any queen cells, disease signs, or pest observations
  • Record what action you took (added super, fed, etc.) and what to check next time
  • Date your notes — the time between inspections matters for interpreting changes
  • A simple rating system (strong/average/weak) helps you prioritize which hives need attention