Share, Learn, Discuss

As a beekeeper, how can you check if your colony is healthy? What are the good and bad indicators of your colonies health? What can you do once a problem has been recognised?

-Check the entrance on a day above 60F - You can see which hives have activity. It's winter, so those days are few and they need the water and to take a leak. If you have several hives, compare the times each hive starts sending out works, this is handy info on solar aspect ( morning sun gets your workers out earlier).
-Weight of supers. Easy to grab one end of the hive and give it a lift to see what it weights. 70lbs of honey to make it through an average winter.
-Robbing - weak hives cant guard their stores against strong hives.
-Deep inspection to count number of bars started / built / honey filled / with brood.
-Pile of dead bees in front of the hive gives some info - previous population that is now dead...
-Internal temp and humidity seem like they would strongly correlate. I use celotex innercovers in winter to manage moisture and prevent dripping.
-Varroa / Nosema check: IPM bottom board, oil method. http://www.lotusfarms.com/home/queen-rearing-2014/varroa-check/