How do you keep track of which hive is which?

[Terri]

I have noticed that when I work my hives that I often switch the boxes around. It is simply more convenient to take the empty box down below out by moving the occupied hive onto a new bottom board.

But, as the number of hives build up, how will I keep track of which hive is which, so I know how good the queen is, and so forth?

[Todd Zeiner]

I have my top covers labeled with girls names. It is easier to remember when "Isabella" needs a super added then to remember the "third one down on the back side" My kids seem more intrested now since they came up with the names.


http://www.beesource.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000331

Hive minder from James Burke is another way, It is a tag that you use on each hive so you can track them.

[Sundance]

I have nmumbered each of my hive bodies with dog tags. They are cheap and allow your name/business, address, and phone number.

The tags have up to 8 didget numbers and has 1/4" high letters and numbers. I bought a 1,000 and they cost les than 8 cents per hive body.

http://www.ketchummfg.com/index.cfm?d=3109&c=4461&p=14706&do=detail

[Antero]

Some commercial beekeepers use brik positioning.

http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/2003/diary052003.htm

Terry

[Jim Fischer]

I use simple stencils with a single alpha
character, followed by a two-digit number
on each and every bottom board, hive body,
and super.

The bottom board numbers designate a "colony",
where other numbers can change over time for
obvious reasons. If a colony is moved to
a new bottom board, the new number is linked
to the old one for record-keeping purposes,
and the old number is not reused, but is
painted over with a new number.

> Some commercial beekeepers use brik positioning.

Most actual commercial beekeepers (those who are
too busy keeping bees to document their ever bowel
movement on a website/blog) have realized that bar
code stickers and RFID tags are the way to go.

I may at least move to bar codes on honey supers,
as this would allow automatic reading of the
"stencil number", and hence the hive of origin of
each super as it is rolled inside, extracted, etc.
But the bar code is merely a fancy way to avoid
keying or writing down things like "B-22" and
"F-113" - not much gain for the expense at my
operation size.

Bricks are a highly inaccurate way to track
hive status. I don't CARE what a brick means
when it is standing on its narrow end, as it
is unreasonable to expect the brick to stay
that way for long. (Bird lands on brick,
momentum of bird topples brick, colony status
is now different due to misleading brick...)

[Michael Bush]

I know he has a new product that is supposed to be more geared toward a hive, but I've been using the Redi Date calendars for mine. I can use different colored push pins to mean different things and the status of the queen or the hive is a place on the calendar to put the tacks. That way I know, for instance, that this hive needs something (O on the calendar for Organize) which means it either needs a super or feeding etc. Basically it means I need to follow up. If there is a laying queen or a queen cell etc. I can tell and I know to followup that plus the calendar portion can be used to mark when I expect to follow up. When queen breeding it can mean when I need to check for eggs etc.

[beegee]

You can take a china-marker pencil and write your info on the top cover, or on a piece of acetate sheet(like overhead projector film) that stays inside the cover. When you want to erase it, wipe it off with mineral spirits. I've been taking digital photos of my hives and storing them on my laptop, which gives me a pretty accurate portable history of the previous visit.

I have always been amazed by the brick method...it seems so simple but it's really difficult to remember which way is up, or down or sideways or flat, or diagonal and what way was it before the bears knocked it off or a bird spun it 90 degrees? I remember when I first started helping with commercial bees, I just chunked the bricks off on the ground, until I was firmly reprimanded for messing up the "system."

[Ian]

Most commercial outfits dont manage their operations by the hive, but by the yard. There is only so much time in the day you know...

So, as the yards are worked, and equilized, a hive that needs attention in a week or so gets a double brick or what ever so it stands out as needing attention. Like a colony being requeened, or superceeding itself should be spot checked for acceptance next time around.

Dont spend you time scratching on a piece of paper. Spend that time working the hives,...

[Jim Fischer]

> Most commercial outfits dont manage their
> operations by the hive, but by the yard.

Ah, "wholesale inattention", yes it has been
the downfall of many who thought that blind
application of the same treatment to two
dozen or more hives would somehow let the
"law of averages" work in their favor.

It can work well for things that are common
to all hives in the yard, such as supering and
varroa infestation, but things like queenlessness,
brood problems, and swarming are going to be
issues for individual hives, rather than groups
of hives.

Of course, up in Manitoba, your season is so
short and so intense, there simply may not be
time for anything but executing pre-planned
tactics as fast as you can push yourself.
Have you ever heard the phrase "dearth period"?

I thought not. smile.gif

[Ian]

Whats a dearth? :confused: ;)

Oh, :D you mean winter,

>>such as supering and
varroa infestation, but things like queenlessness,
brood problems, and swarming are going to be
issues for individual hives, rather than groups
of hives.

Ture, ture. The guys that make a living out of this are manage their hives to take the averages, but manipulating the hives throughout the spring, up and into the honeyflow manages most problems.

Jim, let me take my neighbour for egample. 1200 hives. Now, he has four or five weeks in the spring to ready his yards for the flows, then five weeks to take the honey off the hives, followed by three weeks to ready them for winter.
Penceling 1200 enteries, on every round for every hives performance ect is just not practical.

[Ian]

>>Ah, "wholesale inattention", yes it has been
the downfall of many who thought that blind
application of the same treatment to two
dozen or more hives would somehow let the
"law of averages" work in their favor.

Just not true.

Most of my yards are of 24 to 32 hives. I dont test every hive to get my V count. I test five and determine my treatments accordingly. All you need to test is five to determine your infestation, not all of them.
It especially works well this time of year when there is little brood. A simple cup full out of five hives, and an alchohol wash tells me very accurate counts of the mite in my yard in minutes. The mites are more evenly dispersed within the cluster when no brood is present.

I test my T mites the same way.

[wayacoyote]

I was using numbers on my outer covers, but I named my queens according to girls in the family. As it was said above, it makes the kids interested, and I find it helps get them comfortable thinking there is a queen named after them. I think I'll start putting that on the hive covers.

[Michael Bush]

>but I named my queens according to girls in the family. As it was said above, it makes the kids interested, and I find it helps get them comfortable thinking there is a queen named after them.

Until time to requeen...

[wayacoyote]

haha, true, so I don't tell them. I also name the boy bees... Let's see, there's Larry, and his brother Darrel, and the other brother darrel, and then there's the other brother darrel, and they have a brother named darrel...

Actually, when I name the drones of one hive all one boy's name, the girls think it's funny that the boy's bees will all die off each winter...

Kids are fun.