My first meeting with a state bee inspector didn’t go the way I expected. It went better.
If you’re new to beekeeping, the words “state inspection” can sound a little intimidating, like a pop quiz you didn’t study for. So I want to walk you through exactly what happened the day the inspector came out to our farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, what he looked for, and why these visits turned out to be one of the most useful things I did in my first season.
What is a state bee inspection?
In Maryland, hive inspections are run through the Maryland Department of Agriculture, not some scary enforcement office. The whole point is education and disease prevention. An apiary inspector visits registered hives, checks the health of the colony, looks for signs of pests and disease, and answers questions for beekeepers like me. It is a free service, and it exists because healthy backyard hives help protect the larger network of colonies that pollinate crops across the state. If you want the bigger picture on why registration matters, I wrote about that in beekeeping rules and regulations.
The appointment (and the heat)
My inspector was on the same schedule as the average repairman. An appointment for “after 1” turned into 4:00 pm on a 100 degree day, in the middle of the hottest July we’d had in years along the Chesapeake Bay. I had invited a reporter from The Capital to sit in, but she couldn’t stay long enough to catch the interview.
The inspector was Dean Burroughs, who at the time of my visit had been a Maryland State Apiary Inspector for 26 years, covering six counties on the Eastern Shore. He keeps 300 hives of his own down in Salisbury, about an hour and a half east of my farm. In other words, exactly the kind of person you want elbow-deep in your boxes.
Inside the first hive: queen, brood, and stored honey
Dean started with my first hive, the one that had been robbed earlier in the season, and got to work in the foundation brood box. The bees were not thrilled about it. They were aggressive and defensive, and he took several stings through his gloves without so much as a flinch.
He found the queen and noted that she looked healthy and was, as he put it, “doing her job” laying eggs. He declared the hive still strong and productive. Then he held up a brood frame and showed me how the bees were storing both honey and brood right there in the brood box, the food reserves that help carry a colony through the cold months. If you’ve ever wondered how a colony makes it to spring, I dug into that in what bees do in winter.
On a single frame, the lighter yellow areas along the corners and back are capped honey. The deeper orange-yellow is brood, roughly 2 to 9 days old. Once you see it pointed out in person, you can’t un-see it.
Reading the drone cells for varroa mites
Next, Dean pulled larvae from a few drone cells. Drone cells are easy to spot in the brood because they’re noticeably larger and stand higher than the surrounding worker cells. They’re also where you check for trouble: if a hive is carrying a heavy load of varroa mites, the developing drones are often where they show up first, sometimes visible as small dark specks. Thankfully, mine were clean.
Varroa mites are the pest every Maryland beekeeper learns to watch for, and monitoring them is a year-round habit rather than a one-time fix. If you’re building your own routine, my guide on how to treat varroa mites walks through detection and timing in detail.
The second hive was booming
When Dean opened my second hive, it was a completely different story. This one was booming. He broke it all the way down to the brood for a full inspection, looked it over, and announced, “These girls are working hard.” I smiled. (In case you didn’t know: worker bees are female.) He encouraged me to add a third honey super to give them room, and I did.
Why these visits are worth it
What I appreciated most is that the inspection isn’t really about catching you doing something wrong. It’s about building a relationship between the inspector and the beekeeper. It’s a standing invitation to ask questions of someone with decades of hands-on experience. Dean left me his card and told me to call anytime. For a brand-new beekeeper, that kind of access is gold.
Here are the things I walked away knowing that I didn’t know that morning:
- A bee inspection is mostly painless, aside from the occasional sting, and doubles as a free education session for new beekeepers.
- Drone cells stand at least twice as high as the cells around them, which makes them easy to identify.
- Varroa mites are a real threat to hives in our region, so regular monitoring matters.
- In our climate, facing hives toward the south during the cold months helps shelter them from the winds coming off the Chesapeake Bay.
- At the time, there were nine other registered beekeepers in my county, which was both humbling and encouraging.
If reading this makes you curious about where all of that effort eventually leads, it leads to the jar. You can taste the result of healthy Eastern Shore colonies in our Eastern Shore Honey collection, each one shaped by the same land, weather, and bees I write about here. And if you’re just getting started yourself, you might enjoy how we started a new hive and the lessons in five beekeeping tips.
FAQs About Bee Inspections
What does a state bee inspector check during a hive inspection?
A state apiary inspector typically opens the hive, locates the queen to confirm she is healthy and laying, examines brood frames for normal patterns, checks honey and pollen stores, and looks for signs of pests and disease such as varroa mites. The inspector often shares what they find frame by frame so the beekeeper can learn to recognize it themselves.
How much does a bee inspection cost in Maryland?
In Maryland, hive inspections are provided at no charge through the Maryland Department of Agriculture. The program is designed around education and disease prevention rather than enforcement, so beekeepers can register their hives and request a visit without a fee.
Why are drone cells important during an inspection?
Drone cells are larger and stand higher than worker cells, which makes them easy to identify on a frame. Because varroa mites are often drawn to developing drones, inspectors and beekeepers frequently check uncapped drone larvae as an early window into whether a colony is carrying a heavy mite load.
How do I register my hives for inspection in Maryland?
Maryland beekeepers register their colonies through the Maryland Department of Agriculture, which maintains records of apiary locations and coordinates inspections. Registration helps the state track colony health across regions and lets inspectors reach you to schedule a visit.
Are bee inspections painful or dangerous for the beekeeper?
Inspections are generally painless aside from the occasional sting, which is a normal part of working an active hive. Defensive colonies may be more likely to sting when their boxes are opened on a hot day, but an experienced inspector works calmly and treats it as routine.
