Last inspection of the year — what am I actually checking before I close the hive up until spring?
After the mouse drama on Tuesday I want to do one final, proper look at all three colonies and then leave them alone. Galway, second year. Sunday is forecast dry and 14°C, which is probably my last decent window.
My list so far: check she's queenright (eggs or young larvae on a centre frame), count frames of capped stores, confirm the Apiguard did its job (trays came out mid-September but I never did a verification wash), mouse guards and entrance reducers on, some kind of ventilation or insulation sorted under the roof, roof strapped down.
Questions. Should I actually go frame by frame, or is that just wrecking the propolis seals they've spent September building? Is a verification wash even worth doing in October? And when do you experienced folks really stop opening the hive — is it a date, a temperature, or just when there's nothing left to change?
Do not go frame by frame. At this point you cannot change much, so the inspection should match: lift the crown board, pull ONE centre frame, see eggs or young larvae, put it back. Heft for stores instead of counting. The things that matter in October are outside the brood box — floor clean, guard pinned, tilt forward, insulation above the crown board, roof weighted. In the Tyrol my last real inspection is mid-September; October is hefting only, and from November I do not open until the oxalic. The wash is worth it if you can do it in three minutes from that same frame, otherwise let it go.
PerthshireBees · Oct 3, 2026
Agree with AlpineCarnica. The propolis seal thing is a bit overdone — bees re-seal in a day — but you don't want to chill brood or set off robbing with a long look. If it's 14°C, two centre frames, a wash from one of them, done in ten minutes. Then strap it, clear the grass in front, and write a card for each hive with what you saw. When do I stop? When there's nothing left I could do about what I'd find.
CorkBeeRon · Oct 3, 2026
My Cork last-look list, since you asked: excluder OFF if it's still on (it kills queens in winter when the cluster moves up without her); crownboard feed hole sorted — closed if you're insulating over it, open under the roof if you're relying on top ventilation; guard on; and a note in the diary to do the oxalic in the broodless window in December. And I'd still do the wash — Apiguard in a warm September works, in a cool wet one it's a coin toss.
LindenNora · Oct 3, 2026
Uppsala, third year — our last look was two weeks ago. The one thing I now do that I didn't in my first year: put the insulation slab on top of the crown board BEFORE I close the hive, not "next weekend". Every year I promised myself next weekend, and every year the first snow came first.