Names and numbers

[Bumble]

Have been discussing the merits of various ways of marking hives for record keeping.

Do you number your colonies, or do you give them a name?

If so, do you attach the name or number to the floor, the brood box, the roof or the hive stand? Or is it 'none of the above'?

Do you use removable names or numbers, so they can be transferred to a new box in the spring or whenever the colony moves house?

And, finally, does whatever label you use refer to the queen or the colony?

[Jon]

My numbering system always refers to the queens and I keep a record sheet in a plastic cover under the lid of each colony. The record sheet always follows the queen in the event of any splits, artificial swarms etc.

[Neils]

I tried an informal system of naming/numbering and it's fine until I went back over my notes and tried to figure out which was which.

This year I went out and bought door numbers and screwed/glued them onto the roofs. I considered putting them on the brood boxes, but felt that was too liable to change.

Generally the roof follows the queen until she goes into a Nuc. So after the AS I did, the queen is still in hive 1, the brood went into hive 4 and becomes a new colony.

When the queen moves, the notes move with her.

[chris]

I use plastic numbers fixed with small nails-very easy to lever off. They go on the brood box and follow the queen if she moves.

Reminds me of the funniest post I ever read on a beekeeping forum. This guy in Belfast:D claimed to have an empty hive that he'd named "Bispham'.

[Rosie]

I use CDs. I cut them into four and melt a hole near the corner (which had previously been the centre of the CD) to take a drawing pin. I then mark the queen's number with a permanent marker pen and pin it to the brood box. If I move the queen into another box I take the number with her.

Some CDs are pliable and cut nicely with scissors but others are brittle and crack.

Rose

[Bumble]

My home-printed and laminated numbers, attached with gaffer tape to the lid, seem a bit amateurish by comparison. I tried velcro, but haven't found a glue that will reliably attach it to aluminium.

[Neils]

Bumble, I think whatever works for you is fine, seems like a perfectly workable (and cheap!) solution to me. One of our old hands writes in permanent marker on the roof and has a system to indicate whether there is a queen, what year she is, whether she's clipped and marked etc. He's explained it to me several times and I still don't get it, but it works for him which is the important thing.

[Adam]

For me, hives are numbered. Except that marker pen fades (especially blue) so after the winter I've forgotten what's what! (Well nearly). My records are kept indoors in a ring binder which are updated in the back of the car as I go - unless I forget which does happen.
I recall for the BBKA General Assessment you're supposed to have a plan of the apiary, however hives sometimes move about due to combining, and queens can move too so I don't think it's worthwhile having a plan - as long as the hive numbers haven't dissappeared!

[chris]

[QUOTE=Nellie;11419 One of our old hands writes in permanent marker on the roof and has a system to indicate whether there is a queen, what year she is, [/QUOTE]

To avoid buying a mass of marker pens that are only used a few times each, I always mark all my queens in red, and then write her marking date on the brood box. Works fine, but then I don't sell queens or nucs.

[Neils]

All of mine are marked red too. I think we might have a white pen kicking around somewhere as well as one of my queens from last year is definitely marked in white, who knew? :D

[EmsE]

I name my queens and the hive records are kept under this reference. I keep meaning to put a label on the crown board with the queens name on so that I don't need to rely on memory as to which colony is which, particularly after they move sites. I just haven't got round to it yet.

The code for each queen shows the maternal line, for example the first colony I got, the queen was recorded as I, then her daughters were IA and IB. Their daughters are for example IA1 etc. 30 years down the line it could be a problem and will need to have a rethink (any ideas?) but at the moment it saves me having to keep a separate record for the family tree.

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[Neils]

I just use a relational structure



QueenID ParentID
-----------------
1
2 1
3 1
4
5 3


Anything with NULL parent ID must be an externally (or original) sourced queen.

Outside of a DB you can call the IDs whatever you want and you can record any other information you like where she came from, the year, whether she's marked etc etc. You can query it in two different ways, you can either start with Queens who don't have a parent and work down the tree or pick a queen and work up until you hit a queen without a parent who must, therefore be the original.

On paper it probably gets a bit tricky to follow after a while, but it's pretty easy (and powerful) in a DB or even a spreadsheet.

[GRIZZLY]

I get our local sign maker to cut the numbers 1 thro' 25 in vinyl for me in black ,then a set of a's thro to f in the set of year colours.My hives are marked with the black numbers and daughter queen hives are given the parent hive number suffixed by the appropriate year coloured letter.Seems complicated but works for me.My record sheets are also numbered and coloured to keep my yearly records up to date and to correspond to each colony. The letters are stuck to small squares of correx the screwed to the hive front.One of my hives is shown on Modern Beekeepings National home page.