Hive Inspection Video Textual Description

A beekeeper approaches a hive carrying a bee smoker; some smoke drifts out of its nozzle. Although many beekeepers wear a hat, veil and bee suit, this one has none of these, but works instead with bare hands, wearing long pants and a long-sleeved shirt as his only protection.

The beekeeper removes the cover in order to gain access to the hive boxes.

As the beekeeper removes the cover, a bee escape is visible underneath. A few bees are walking around on its surface. They can come out through the small hole in its centre but they cannot fathom how to get back in.

The beekeeper uses his hive tool to break the propolis bond between the different parts of the white painted hive. As he lifts off the hive box, a queen excluder is visible on the top of the hive box below. Its surface is covered in tan-coloured spots of bee glue, or propolis

The beekeeper lifts off the queen excluder and places it on the ground beside the hive. This device keeps the queen in the brood chamber (the hive box) below. The size of the holes in the mesh allows the workers and drones to pass through, but not the queen: she is too large. The queen excluder is covered in tan-coloured spots of bee glue, or propolis. The top edges of the ten frames resting side by side in the hive box are now visible.

Using his hive tool, the beekeeper breaks the propolis bond that is holding one of the frames to its rest inside the lip of the brood box. About ten frames can be seen side by side within the brood box. The beekeeper lifts a frame to see how the bees are doing. Both sides of the frame are covered in bees.

The beekeeper lifts up another frame and the camera pans in for a close-up of the hundreds of bees moving around on its front and back surfaces.

As the beekeeper removes the next frame from the hive box, two large, waxy pale yellow shapes the size of a man’s thumb can be seen. These are queen cells that the beekeeper pulls off and sets aside. Removing these cells may prevent the bees from leaving the hive in search of a new home.

Having examined all the frames in the hive box, the beekeeper is ready to put the last one back in place. Holding it above the space where it will rest, he shakes it so that the bees clinging to its surface fall into the hive box, then, using his bee brush, directs the remaining bees back into the hive box and sets the frame aside.

The beekeeper now reaches for another frame that’s teeming with bees and places it in the hive box. The examination complete, he then reaches over and begins to put the hive cover back in place.