About

A straight answer, from the forecast.

Type a town or postcode and it tells you whether you can open your hives now, when the next good window is, and what to look for when you do.

How it decides

It reads the hourly forecast for the next ten days and grades every hour between 9am and 6pm, when the foragers are out:

• Full inspection (pulling brood frames): 15 °C or more, dry, and wind under 22 km/h.
• Quick look (adding a super, checking stores, lifting the crown board): from 12 °C, dry and fairly calm.
• No: colder than that, raining, windier, thunder about, or early morning and evening, when everyone is home.

The season matters too. From November to February the answer is always no, however mild it is: heft the hive instead. From mid-October a warm afternoon earns a quick look at most. In swarm season it reminds you to look every seven days.

The thresholds are the usual guidance for the UK and err on the cautious side. It is a forecast, not a promise: use your own judgement at the hive.

Where the data comes from

Forecasts from Open-Meteo, and postcodes from postcodes.io. Both are free and open. Your search goes straight from your browser to them; see the privacy policy for what we keep.

Who makes it

Bickerton Beekeeping, a small family apiary in Wiltshire. We built it because "is it warm enough to open them up?" is the question we ask ourselves most weeks from April to September.

Spotted something wrong, or got an idea? Email barney@bickerton.co.uk.