Beekeepers inspect their colonies of honey bees regularly and, during each inspection, check for five things.

• That there is enough room for the queen to lay and give more room if needed by adding supers.

• That the colony has enough stores to last until the next inspection.

• That the queen is laying well, which includes checking for queen cells, which would suggest that the colony is preparing either swarm or replace the queen.

• We check that the colony is healthy.

Here’s an example of a healthy brood frame. (Flickr photo by Maja Dumat)