Don't mean to nit pick, and you may have noticed that if you ask 10 beekeepers how to do something you'll get 10 different answers... but I'd suggest that you not disturb your bees, even briefly, without smoking (even just a little smoke). Even minor disturbances to the hive get the guard bees agitated and will spread "alarm" signals through the hive. You may not be there long enough to get buzzed or stung, but the bees are definitely responding to the disturbance for some time afterwards...and the more times this happens the more trigger happy they'll become to be. A little smoke will sufficiently "distract" the hive and "divert attention" from the alarming guard bees. I once had a very gentle hive that went "mean" and superceded after a few too many casual inspections by an inexperienced beekeeper (me!:). Anyway, just my two cents and good luck!

Chris --- I don't mind nitpicks. In this case, I disagree with you, though. The usual method with Warre hives is not to smoke the bees at all while nadiring, because you don't actual agitate anyone since you barely disrupt the brood chamber at all. When you take off the lid to harvest honey, that's another matter, but when nadiring, you just lift the entire hive straight up, which does confuse a few bees, but doesn't seem to cause an alarm response. Or at least that's what I've read, and have seen in my one inspection.