Records / information recorded on the apiary

[beeser]

Hi all

I'm interested in experiences and practices of small, medium and large beekeepers ... do you record certain information by hive? regular checkups? production? weather? varoa? anything?

do you write all on paper? on hive? some software?
how useful is writing of the infos for you?

I believe that a lot of times (at least those with a lot of hives) it is to hard work and record information at the same time because you only have two hands. If someone assists you - you will probably prefer to help you physically and not just typing on your cell phone or written down on paper.

Here I am interested in the relevance of recording information, how you do it and how much is it useful?

Thx much

[Bumble]

On paper, in a file, recording most things longhand. I always wanted to write a book.

[HJBee]

I'm a new beekeeper so have only been using since July, but has worked so far. I have a laminated sheet constructed on a spreadsheet template, kept on a clipboard with a fine tip permanent marker. I write some long hand notes, temp & weather stats & checkbox for eggs, brood, queens, stores to have been seen etc. this is kept in my big blue ikea kit bag with my tools, suit & wellies etc. I only have 1 hive.

[ebee]

I have a data sheet for each hive with date, boxes for ticking and a comments space at the end the sheets are kept in a folder in my study and updated after every visit, at the end of the season I start a new sheet for the following season, the record is must for improving your skills.

[Jimbo]

I write my notes on each hive on a small notebook. As I am interested in bee improvement I also score each colony eg on temperment, running on the frame etc I then transfer this information onto the BIBBA stud book software. When you work with a number of hives you start to identify your better colonies and looking over the records over a number of years you start to see patterns forming eg I have noticed most of my colonies start to prepare to swarm in the 3rd week in May regardless of weather.

[Black Comb]

I have a record sheet for each hive. I record after every inspection, I can see well enough thought the veil. Basically slightly modified from the one on the BBKA website which is a good template to start. I keep them all in one file.
I find this better and more easily accessible than software.
I have used Beetight in the past but prefer this method.

[Calum]

Hi
I did all that for a while. In the end couldn't be bothered. I make chalkmarks on the hives now.
The top 4 I use for breeding the rest are sold on or requeened at the start of the year.
After a while you know yourself which are nice and which are nasty, honey crop is worth taking note of, and i never use the material from colonies that want to swarm for raisng queens.. I should probably take notes though....

[Black Comb]

I reckon it takes me no more than 15 seconds to record all the info, including taking sheet out and re-inserting in plastic sleeve.
The sheets end up with lots of propolis in places but are good enough for me.

[Jon]

I have a record sheet under every lid which I look at before opening up the colony. I also started keeping notes in a small notebook this year.
I also post stuff to the blog section on this site which is useful when you want to check the date you did something or other.

[Neils]

Probably not much of a surprise if I say I use my phone to take notes. I use a program called Evernote which syncs between my phone and my computer and I later stick the information into a database that I use to do stuff.

When I first started I recorded all sorts of things. These days I record how many frames of brood, whether I added a super, what treatments and if its pertinent whether I saw a queen and anything useful I think I need to know next week.

Each hive has a number on top of it, this number follows the queen unless I put her in a Nuc which tends to indicative that I think she's on the way out but aren't 100% sure.

[Poly Hive]

I am minimal. I use bricks on top of my roofs for two reasons. One is to hold down the roof... note to roof makers... a deep side keeps the damn thing on... sheesh KISS. The brick is informative. Upright it says issue to be addressed. In line front to back it says all ok. There are other messages I an use so invent your own.

I have a record card on the CB. It is a blank sheet of paper and reads as follows.

Q G/C

23/4/12 8+1 ok

Translated... the queen is green marked and clipped.

On the date the brood is at 8 frames plus one, which means one stores comb was bruised and inserted in the brood frames in the expectation it will be brood in a weeks time.
And so on.

PH

[Jon]

Anyone interested in queen rearing or bee improvement will need more than bricks on the lid in terms of record keeping although I take the point that it is useful to have and external indicator re. imminent action needed. I stick drawing pins into apideas for the same reason.
Roger Patterson has a good record sheet (http://www.wgbka.org.uk/WGBKAdocs/Record%20Sheet.pdf) which records a years colony inspections on a sheet of A4.

[Mellifera Crofter]

On RP's record sheet, what does QMP stand for?

[Jon]

queen mating problem.
I use that column to record the level of stores in the colony.

[GRIZZLY]

Just got back from the National Honey Show where I purchased a clever disc called "APIS" or apiary management system . Covers EVERYTHING !. My wife , A teacher of Maths and Computing, has promised to run the thing for me so, from next year on I will have a complete set of data on all aspects of my colonies and beekeeping - I hope !!. Previously used to keep hive records based on information on the queen, this got complicated if the colony swarmed and I lost her. Hopefully the hive record went on with the replacement queen. If the swarm with the original queen was hived then the original hive record was transferred to the swarm. A complicated system that soon swamped itself. HOWEVER - time will tell.

[Neils]

I am minimal. I use bricks on top of my roofs for two reasons. One is to hold down the roof... note to roof makers... a deep side keeps the damn thing on... sheesh KISS. The brick is informative. Upright it says issue to be addressed. In line front to back it says all ok. There are other messages I an use so invent your own.

I have a record card on the CB. It is a blank sheet of paper and reads as follows.

Q G/C

23/4/12 8+1 ok

Translated... the queen is green marked and clipped.

On the date the brood is at 8 frames plus one, which means one stores comb was bruised and inserted in the brood frames in the expectation it will be brood in a weeks time.
And so on.

PH

One of our guys here writes in a permanent marker on the roof of the hive. It's basically a circle with some bits going on, While it's simple to him and simple in principle when, like now, I try to explain it, it makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. It's his system that tells him everything he needs to know about the hive when he sees it next.

The Bricks seem sensible and your code is not a million miles away from how I take my own notes. Each, as they say, to their own. I think the important thing is, find a system that works for you. I don't expect mine to be suitable for anyone else not anyone else's to be that natural to me. I definitely agree with the principle of KISS (keep it simple, stupid). When I started out I wrote nearly a novel at each inspection and it took me longer to write the notes about each frame than it did to look at it. Looking back I think that's a forgivable error and it's not something I'd berate someone for, just maybe point out that while the hive is open and you write that essay about the frame of foundation that had no bees on that you're making life unnecessarily hard on yourself and your bees.

I can go through an entire apiary with my current system and write up the notes watching the world go by with a drink and a smoke at the end of it and I like those few minutes when I'm done actively beekeeping but don't want to leave the apiary just yet.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Similar to visual cues of bricks and circles, this summer, on a course in Colonsay, I learned to use coloured drawing pins to indicate the age of the queen at a glance. The drawing pin corresponds to the colour of the year in which she hatched, and if you don't know what year she's from, AA uses red. When it's a red year, he doubles the pins to indicate a red queen.

I had more colours than the five basic colours in the box of drawing pins I've subsequently bought, so I use black to indicate "I don't know" and two pins of the same colour if I've marked the queen.

Kitta

[Calum]

Queen Mating Problems (http://www.wgbka.org.uk/WGBKAdocs/Apiary%20Records.pdf)
I thought it was going to be queen memorial play - oh the dissapointment...

[Poly Hive]

A certain person has a pretty large bee in the blefery regarding queen issues. However moving on. When I was queen rearing on a large scale, as in over 50 a year, I sprayed my bricks with paint. Red yellow and blue. Red was grafts in. Yellow was sealed cells, and red was caged virgins.

You can do a lot of breeding with a brick....

PH

[Jon]

Got to be a hell of a lot easier with a little notebook especially if you are grafting into several colonies every other day.

[Adam]

I use a card similar to the one on this (http://www.norfolkbee.co.uk/useful-documents) page - kept in a loose leaf binder indoors.

[Jon]

Adam. I am still using your mini nuc record sheet in my apideas so credit where credit is due. I have printed off hundreds of them over the past couple of years.

[Charlie]

Grizzly, could you supply more info on the "APIS" disc you bought.

what it does, who makes it, what it cost, website etc

Thanks

[GRIZZLY]

Charlie email address is:- mike@computerlincs.co.uk who will assist you and give you all the information. Note the c in the address. The cost is £70.00 but it is a big programme. Took 3years to develop apparently.

[GRIZZLY]

Just installed the Apis programme - its mind blowingly huge and realy does cover everything you can think of. It's going to take some time to master it but will be more than worth it. Even covers designing and printing your own labels. Supplied with an excellent on line manual. I,ve now got the whole of winter to master the system.

[Calum]

I use this one - prefer one sheet of paper / site, when I have the time...
http://scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/ (http://scottishbeekeepers.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/TDS%20number%2015%20Stock%20Record%20sheet.xls)

[Charlie]

Thank you grizzly, email sent

[The Drone Ranger]

I was going to start a thread but this existing one is pretty good and worth a read
http://www.hivetasks.com.au/index.php
havent tried this but there is a free download if anyone wan'ts to check it out and do a review
Doesn't work on Linux or 64 bit systems though
I'm still on paper with and without varying levels of propolis

[greengumbo]

I use the free beetight software for my records. Free for the first 5 hives I think ? I find it useful enough although I have a terrible memory so should get into the habit of a Dictaphone thingy.

I think as I get more experienced at the actual beekeeping then I will get better at the recording.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi greengumbo
I didn't like the dictaphone 'cause I still wrote everything down back at base and mostly all you could hear was bee buzzing noises :)

[snimmo243]

Hi
I keep my records on the beebase website there are lots of options you can toggle on and off depending on type of inspection/time of year, for example if topping up autumn feed you can just select feeding and enter that. The only drawback is inability to print off records.
Steven

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi
I keep my records on the beebase website there are lots of options you can toggle on and off depending on type of inspection/time of year, for example if topping up autumn feed you can just select feeding and enter that. The only drawback is inability to print off records.
Steven

Another possibility I need to investigate
Grizzly has me reaching for my wallet but I like Polyhives bricks mainly because they are multitasking and can drive off animals like sheep or construct a Summer barbecue if I decide to change the system at a later date :)

[fatshark]

I use a sheet pretty much like the one Adam links to a page or so back. They stay in a folder at home. However, I've learnt the hard way (by forgetting loads of stuff) that the only way to record things is to do it immediately after the inspection ... so I use a cheapo digital dictation machine in a plastic bag with an external clip-on mike. I can use the one start/stop recording button through the bag without covering everything with propolis. I mainly keep records for queen performance so score temper, brood pattern, running etc. on a 1-5 scale. I can usually get a full year of inspections onto a single page. The other thing I record is what I need to bring with me next time ... if I don'd do this I'm forever forgetting things; like the spare crownboard I needed today when wrapping hives in DPM for winter.

[snimmo243]

I found the beebase system quite good as a beginner as the various options reinforced what you are supposed to be looking for, like others I take basic notes at the side of the hive on a notepad then transfer to beebase when I get home

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

[Poly Hive]

The biggest problem for many is over complication. I cannot use techie stuff when working bees as I get sticky. I hate moby phones full stop so they are out. I thought of a dictaphone many years ago but thought it over complex. Where I want the info is at the bees, not in the house.

In some ways too much info is as big a problem as not enough. Take a minute to think this through. What information do you need to improve your beekeeping? Then ponder, how do I keep my info in a way that does not increase the time taken to have the hive open?

PH

[snimmo243]

The biggest problem for many is over complication. I cannot use techie stuff when working bees as I get sticky. I hate moby phones full stop so they are out. I thought of a dictaphone many years ago but thought it over complex. Where I want the info is at the bees, not in the house.

In some ways too much info is as big a problem as not enough. Take a minute to think this through. What information do you need to improve your beekeeping? Then ponder, how do I keep my info in a way that does not increase the time taken to have the hive open?

PH

I use Beebase as the good permanent record, and scribble notes at the side of the hive, I found that keeping written notes inside the hive roof ended up getting sticky or wet or left in the upturned roof with supers etc on them.

[Poly Hive]

I use a laminated sheet of paper and an indelible pen to write on the plastic with. Resolves the above issues. ;) Oh and it is secured to the CB with drawing pins.

PH

[HJBee]

I do the same as Poly Hive with the exception I have mine on a clipboard in my bag of tricks that accompanies me to the hives. It's worked well for me.

[The Drone Ranger]

http://www.bibba.com/pdf/bibbastudbook.pdf

Anyone using the free BIBBA software
It looks like the best bet if you have a good few hives ?

[prakel]

This http://kirkwebster.com/index.php/some-thoughts-on-breeding-bees-in-the-north?format=pdf includes a few paragraphs on Webster's thoughts and method of record keeping. Just love this quote


And skunks can be worse than computer hackers when they come at night and scratch the tacks off my nuc boxes.

[mbc]

This http://kirkwebster.com/index.php/some-thoughts-on-breeding-bees-in-the-north?format=pdf includes a few paragraphs on Webster's thoughts and method of record keeping. Just love this quote

Thanks for the interesting link, many of Kirk's observations on his Russian bees could equally have been written about my own.

[prakel]

E W Alexander, an early US commercial beekeeper who kept 700 -800 colonies in one apiary wrote the following, originally for Gleanings in Bee Culture -later reprinted in 'Alexander's Writings On Practical Bee Culture' 1909:


Tin Tags For Showing Age and Quality of Queens.

Something like 30 years ago I cut out a lot of pieces of tin -some round, some half round, and some square, about one inch in diameter; and whenever I find a young queen commencing to lay I put one of these tags on the front of the hive on the front left-hand corner, about two inches from the bottom. It is put on with a carpet-tack through the centre, and is easily taken off with my knife; and it follows that queen to every hive she is ever put into. If she proves to be a choice queen the tag is put a few inches higher up on the corner of the hive; and if very choice, still higher. If she is inferior in any way it is put clear over to the other side. I use only one shape of tag each summer, with all the queens of that summer's rearing. The next summer I use another shape, perhaps round or square; then when I walk through the apiary I can tell at a glance the age and quality of every queen in the yard; and then when I have surplus queens on hand I can go right to the hives that contain my poorest queens and supercede them at once without having to open any hive unnecessarily. You see I can tell at any time. I see by the fronts of the hives just how many queens I have of a certain age, also their quality. If you will adopt this way of keeping track of your queens you will soon weed out the poor ones, and find it a great advantage to you to do so.

[Mellifera Crofter]

That's a good tip (dating from the 1880s) - thanks Prakel.
K

[Rosie]

Thanks for the interesting link, many of Kirk's observations on his Russian bees could equally have been written about my own.

I liked the comment that farm livestock should be purchased from areas that are harder than your own because the imported animals exhibit a kind of "release" which is like hybrid vigour. It's common for lowland farmers to buy store animals from the Welsh mountains for fattening on lowland pastures and I have often thought it might also be true of bees. This would mean that we could safely bring in bees from harsher districts but not from milder ones. It follows, therefore, that it would be a mistake to send your best stock to somewhere like Southern Europe for breeding purposes as over the generations they would go soft and lose their ability to cope in the North.

[prakel]

interesting link, many of Kirk's observations on his Russian bees could equally have been written about my own.

For the most part reading his articles which have been archived on the web at KirkWebster.com (http://kirkwebster.com/) is well worth the time.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi folks
until this season I have been record keeping on cards I printed
Held in small ring binder
But I have been experimenting with a modern version of the old dictaphone as well

https://youtu.be/2GZk3yFeJ30
This is what they look like

[gavin]

Hi folks
until this season I have been record keeping on cards I printed
Held in small ring binder
But I have been experimenting with a modern version of the old dictaphone as well

https://youtu.be/2GZk3yFeJ30
This is what they look like

I'll bet the black one attracts more bee attention than the silver.

I have the ring binder and the file to print cards but somehow they haven't been christened yet. Still on the diary/notebook. One with a shiny surface means you can pick off the propolis when it gets too bad. This year, despite the weather, all the pages are showing signs of staying put in the binding.

Speaking of propolis, on the rare occasions when I forgot my notebook, the phone takes written notes too (thanks Emma). It probably takes verbal ones too but I'd never find them again.

My trouble is finding the time/energy to go back through the notes to find out what I need to take next time, and when.

Will probably end up with record cards inside the hive (all my new Swienties have an unperforated ply crown board now) and a notebook for take-away essential information such as 'bring 43 supers to this site' (always the optimist).

Luvvin' the videos.

[The Drone Ranger]

I'll bet the black one attracts more bee attention than the silver.



They don't like it and they are even worse with my phone
I thought we were getting a better day but the weather switched to rain again

Did you actually get anything you could write in your notebook done today? :)

[gavin]

They don't like it and they are even worse with my phone
I thought we were getting a better day but the weather switched to rain again

Did you actually get anything you could write in your notebook done today? :)

Nah, went to Perth Farmers Market and by the time I was finished nattering to Andrew S of Meigle the dark clouds were rolling in.

We're into August and the limes are still in full flower. Bees in the strongest hive in the central Carse of Gowrie on Thursday were flying strongly the other day, I guess for lime. Still a week of them left at the W side of Dundee I reckon, maybe a bit longer elsewhere. Past their peak but there are always later trees. I decided to abandon a planned move to bell heather sites earlier in July and think that was the right choice. The big ones are holding their own without feeding.

[The Drone Ranger]

You will be taking all that lime honey to the Dundee flower show I expect :)

[gavin]

You will be taking all that lime honey to the Dundee flower show I expect :)

... may be able to fit it in my back pocket ...

It was great to be prompted to re-read the Kirk Webster and EW Alexander comments on bee breeding and selection tips, maybe this winter I'll make a point of trying to go through all of Prakel's excellent snippets from the literature.

[The Drone Ranger]

Ha ha Well there's still time :)

[HJBee]

... may be able to fit it in my back pocket ....

I'm heading up for the National Show this year, maybe see you?

[gavin]

I'm heading up for the National Show this year, maybe see you?

Yes! We'll be manning the ESBA stand and I'll chatting to anyone I can find. Be good to catch up.

[gavin]

Ha ha Well there's still time :)

I haven't been to my bees for several days for various reasons so perhaps there will be some pleasant surprises. Certainly the trees are doing their best this year. Just down to the bees and the weather.

Picked up a cast at the association apiary today. I haven't yet worked out which one it came from, or whether it arrived from elsewhere. Swarms in August.