been cold here at night just down the road from you zweefer, and a damp thick mist/fog rolling off the river and filling the valley the past few nights. our tomatoes actually suffered some frost.
"When does one stop inspections? Is it weather based, or event based?
Example: after extraction, and once you are sure they have enough stores, one can stop inspections, or once it is consistently in the 50's then you should stop...
This late in the season, what all should one be looking for during inspections (I know you should always have a reason to go in)."
this is a great question zweefer.
by now this is what i like to see after honey supers are removed:
like jack said strength of the hive, stores, disease/mite free.
strength of the hive going into winter now:
i like to see bees on the majority of the frames and rolling over the tops. if you know/or knew that your queen was laying well, this should be evident. if i have this, all i look for is stores.
stores now/feed syrup before october 15th in our area if need be:
2nd deep full, you may see some center frames that are not completely full, honey circle at the top and on the sides extending midway down the frame and maybe just below, that's fine. the brood hatched out and bees are preparing for winter, 'backfilling' a little for the time that's left. with that said, your 2nd deep needs to be the heaviest. your first deep, honey and pollen frames on the outside, this can be checked anytime when temps are above 60. i check them immediately after i pull supers, these are usually full with a good strong colony.
inspections:
once honey supers go on, i don't disturb the hive to the bottom box to see what's going on, UNLESS i see a problem, many, many variables, this is why it's good to have more than one hive for those just starting out and also understanding of weather conditions (nectar/pollen flows), your bees characteristics, failing queens, disease, mites, your observations, .....etc.....i don't bother hives by pulling them apart when i don't 'see' a problem with honey supers on. when i pull the supers off at the end of the season, i do check to the bottom, but i don't need to see the queen or any brood patterns, all i need to see at this time of year are the bee 'numbers' and the stores. hope i made sense?
as far as inspections from here on out, i don't do any additional thorough inspections (checking the queens brood patterns), except to see that the bees have plenty of stores going into winter.
mite treatment
august treat for mites, or after honey supers have been removed, september is a little late for full treatment of some miticides, but might be able treat with other miticides.
really zweefer, all you can do now, if your colonies are strong, relatively mite free, is to make sure they have the stores going into winter. really no need to go digging into the bottom hive unless you feel a hive needs combined with another. any problems with hives really, ought to have been taken care of before fall. sometimes it doesn't happen, and sometimes the bees make it inspite of our shortcomings, sometimes they don't. i do like to check stores regularly, and feed as necessary, whether it be syrup or frames saved for them. as long as the weather is above 50 degrees, there is no harm in taking a quick look to monitor progress. beyond syrup feeding, give them winter patties or fondant. in cold winter months, after hefting or 'hip checking' a hive, i have shoved feed in at 38 degrees. i really think done quickly bees are more cold hardy than we think.
