The weather forecast in central Wisconsin for this Wednesday is sunny and the low 40's. That is a good time to check your hives. Its still too cold for a thorough inspection, but a quick inspection is OK. Plan out what you are going to do prior to opening the hive.
First, be prepared and make a few emergency sugar discs ahead of time. Second, a few guard bees may attack when the hive is opened. Do you want your veil?
So now to the inspection. Think through the inspection steps several times so you know what you will be doing. Then remove the outer and inner covers.
1) Is the hive alive or dead. You should be able to assess this in about 5 seconds. Normally at this time of year the cluster will be in the top brood chamber box and readily visible.
2) Are the bees all the way up to the tops of the frames? Yes/no? If yes, they are probably short of food and you can add an emergency sugar disc and close the hive back up. If they are still several inches down everything is OK.
3) How big (wide) is the cluster on top of the frames? If you only see bees between one or two frames the hive probably will have trouble building up in the spring and you should start considering your options; replace with a new package or add bees from a strong hive later in April.
That's all that you need to do. The quicker the better. There may be eggs or brood and you don't want to chill them so get things closed up again within 30 seconds.
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