{"id":7889,"date":"2011-05-08T06:57:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T05:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=7889"},"modified":"2020-09-17T09:40:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-17T08:40:15","slug":"beekeeping-hive-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2011\/05\/beekeeping-hive-records\/","title":{"rendered":"Beekeeping – Hive Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

An important aspect of successful beekeeping<\/a> is that of keeping accurate records. It allows you to know what is, and has been, going on inside your hives which in time should provide useful data that will help you manage your stocks more effectively. From your records you should be able to tell what has been done during any manipulations of the colony, what needs to be done and what did and didn’t work. Your records will also be useful during inspection by the regional bee inspector or for submitting to authorities should you have any notifiable diseases.<\/p>\n

Many beekeepers find this aspects of the ‘hobby’ a chore, but I like keeping records. In fact I have spreadsheets and databases of everything. I record GPS and heart rate data of all my training and then input it into various software for analysis<\/a>. I record moths trapped<\/a> in the garden and store that in a bespoke database that I created as well as submitting the records to the county recorder. I have a database of plants in the garden, I have various financial tracking programs and many other spreadsheets and databases<\/a>. It’s only natural then that I would keep decent records of our beehives and their colonies.<\/p>\n

Hive Record Cards<\/h1>\n
\"Hive<\/a>

Hive Record Card<\/p><\/div>\n

There are of course various\u00a0approaches\u00a0to keeping hive\u00a0records. Most beekeepers use a simple sheet of paper as a record card that\u00a0shows the state of a colony each time it is inspected. It also allows recording of what needs to be done on the next hive inspection. This is fine, works well, is easy to manage and the record sheets themselves can be attached the in the inside of the hive roof so that they are always there when you need them. We shall be using this approach, so I have created my own simple\u00a0Hive Record Form<\/a>\u00a0[pdf]. As you can see, it is a simple affair that provides a single line for each inspection that allows you to note the condition of the colony and any tasks that have been completed or need to be done. One or two of these cards should be sufficient for a season and will give you an overview of the colony at any one time. Feel free to use it for your own records if you wish.<\/p>\n

For me that wasn’t enough. I wanted to record a little more information so have created a detailed inspection card and being a bit of a geek also wanted to use the computer. I shall keep the records in a database as well as on the paper sheets, and have also been trying out a couple of \u00a0online recording tools – Hive Tracks and Bee Tight.<\/p>\n

Detailed Inspection Sheets<\/h1>\n
\"Hive<\/a>

Hive Inspection Sheet<\/p><\/div>\n

As new beekeepers we felt that we really wanted to get an idea of what was going on inside our hives each time we inspected, especially at the moment as the new nucs that we installed<\/a> are building up and developing fast within the hive. Simply ticking a few boxes and making coded notes of the condition of the colony wasn’t quite enough. So, in addition to the hive record sheet I created a\u00a0Hive Inspection Form<\/a>\u00a0[pdf]. This contains all of the same information as the record sheet, but provides a little more room for notes. It allows us to note the configuration of the hive, note any problems and the actions and task that we complete. Also included is what I have called a ‘Brood Box Configuration’ table. This allows us to note what we see on each frame within the brood box. We simply tick off what we see as we go through each frame (doing this with helpers is obviously better as one person can inspect whilst the other fills out the records). We can record the presence (or absence) of the following for each frame.<\/p>\n