Can I check my bees?

A full inspection (pulling brood frames) needs 15 °C or more, no rain, wind under a fresh breeze, between 9am and 6pm while the foragers are out. A quick look (adding a super, checking stores, lifting the crown board) is fine from 12 °C in dry, calm weather. Below 12 °C, in rain, in strong wind, or with thunder about, the answer is no. Early morning and evening are out: everyone is home and tetchy.

From November to February the answer is always no, however mild it is. Heft the hive instead. Advice is written for the UK and northern Europe; the thresholds will be wrong for the tropics.