>>If it's as cold as all that, beware of leaving part of your ear stuck to the hive! Try a stethoscope.
A stethoscope works very nicely - if one has one. If not, the ear works just fine. The heat transfer bet. the wooden hive body and the ear is not so great that would cause the ear tissue to stick to the wood. :) Have done it many times without ill effects.
>>Time will tell whether I did more good than harm, but I don't think smoking is fair to the bees at this time.
Well, it's not fair having to do inspections at this time of the year but if one has the hive in a garage with a single light source overhead, a little smoke will keep the bees calmer if one intends to pull frames to check for ccd-like symptoms. Clustered bees otherwise will put out the alarm odor and some will take to flight.
Merely looking at the bees in between the frames without pulling frames will not tell much if one suspects ccd.
Waldemar
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