What does one do in a hive inspection? Mostly, a lot of looking and listening.

Looking for the Queen, brood, signs of disease, signs of swarming, honey production, Queen cells, drone cells, beetles, varroa mites…

Listening for their overall mood, easily reflected in their humming, often gentle and work-related, sometimes irritated and loud.

Whether or not you need to really “do” anything during the hive inspection depends entirely on what you see and hear. Often there’s nothing that needs to be done (except maybe refilling a syrup feeder), but sometimes there are interventions and adjustments to make — and usually, ones best made right away in order to prevent disaster — but you never know it until you take the time to look & listen. I’m sure there’s a life lesson in there somewhere.

Some things don’t change, even in pandemics. Like the way beekeeping makes me smile.