CheckInspect – Check the Weather for your Beehive Inspection

Inspecting your beehives is a necessary part of apiary management. Both beginner and experienced beekeepers need to inspect beehives periodically. It helps identify problems early in their onset, and allows you to know if it is time to harvest beehive products.

Technology has given us various physical and virtual tools in beekeeping. The CheckInspect tool is a web application that helps you decide if its optimal to check on your beehives or wait. It is available to all beekeepers across the globe. The online beehive inspection suitability tool uses weather information and your settings to determine if your conditions are optimal or not. On every determination the tool gives you, it adds a short reason to help you understand the determination.

CheckInspect is great for both beginner and experienced beekeepers. The tool allows you to put in your city and calculates a recommendation for you based on that. Additionally, there are settings that allow you to modify the optimum temperature and wind values in which you can conduct beehive inspections. Beginner beekeepers may not know the best conditions for beehive inspections in their area. They however benefit from the inbuilt parameters which establish a baseline for you. CheckInspect is customizable; the baseline can be adjusted for your preferences.

To use the tool, you search for a city or town near you to get a determination from CheckInspect. A search icon on the website points you to where to input your search word. A gear icon to change your settings is also available on the website. It allows you to choose between metric and imperial units. The settings also allow you to change your baseline values and readings for weather conditions.

Settings for calculating your preferred baseline values are stored on the site per device. The next time you visit the site on the same device, output for you is calculated based on your previous established baseline values. This online beekeeping tool takes into account various weather parameters including temperature, rainfall, snowfall, wind speed and cloud cover. It gives you output recommendations of 3 general types:

Optimal Conditions

This determination on the CheckInspect tool gives you the best times to inspect your beehives. Aim to carry out your beehive inspections when conditions are optimal for best results and to go around the various risks of opening up the beehive for an inspection.

Viable Conditions

In this determination, though the conditions are not optimal but you can inspect the beehive just the same. This is allowed only if it is very necessary to inspect the beehive. You may wait for conditions to improve from viable to optimal.

Inadvisable Conditions

This determination is returned when there are possible adverse effects on your honey bee colony from a beehive inspection. You do not need to harm the health of your beehive by carrying out an inspection when conditions are inadvisable. You should wait for conditions to improve to viable or optimal determinations.

Conclusion

The results you get with CheckInspect are for up to 6 days. They enable advance planning of beehive inspections. This makes the tool a great addition for more organized beekeeping. In addition to helping you determine if it is alright to go on a beehive inspection visit, the CheckInspect web app also show to you tips about the management of both small and large beekeeping operations.