One thing most all beekeepers do is hive checks. We check for this and we check for that and sometimes we just check. II am an advocate for regular hive checks and do mine every 10 days. Sometimes I check more often than that and it totally depends on the purpose of the hive check. Most of my hive checks are for swarm prevention and I know that it is very unlikely that a queen cell can rslip by in the 10 day period between checks. 10 days is a schedule that is tough to keep track of because whoever set up the calendar did the days in groups of seven so the day of the week is always different. I find that I sometimes have to write on the calendar when I checked a particular yard. I can pretty much spend the greater part of the day in the bee yard during the hive check day so I know the whole yard was done on a certain day.
I was asked why I don't check on a particular day of the week so that it is easier to remember where I need to be. It is a very logical question and is a very sensible practice to do the weekly hive check. There is the predictability of the timing, as well as a couple of extra days built into the schedule in case something else comes up that needs doing instead. In fact weekly hive checks are an excellent practice to understand what is going on inside the hive. For the beekeeper that has only a few hives it is a wonderful way to pass a Saturday afternoon.
I think that the reason that I adopted the 10-day schedule is that once a month I get a day off from checking hives. A 7-day schedule requires four checks during a month whereas a 10-day schedule means only 3. Keep in mind that the 10-day cycle is only good for swarm cells and supercedeure problems. During most of the season I check on the same schedule as most other beekeepers.
When you hive a package you have to check in a day or two if the queen is released and then you have to check a week later to see if there are eggs. To loose the extra days without a queen laying eggs is a big mistake so more often is better here. During the setup of a new colony extra attention should be paid to the hive to correct anything that may be amiss. Such problems of pollen or nectar shortage, poor brood pattern, nectar bound brood nest and wazzling need to be spotted as soon as possible.