beekeeping software

[King bee apiary]

Can anyone suggest a good cheap software database to keep track of the hives and such?

[Michael Bush]

Excel? Access?

[King bee apiary]

have that , didn't know if there were any bee related types out there.

[Michael Bush]

Decide what you want to track.

Things like:

Queen:
Breed:
Clolor:
Clipped?:
Marking:
Year raised:
Brood pattern:
Temprement of the hive:
Hive:
Stores:
Room:
Manipulations needed (add supers ect)
Equipment:
Year put into service:
Repairs needed:

[Lesli St. Clair]

Try:
mybeehives.com

[Sundance]

I also hope someone comes up with some software for tracking beekeeping.

The online site is nice but having to get online is a major downfall.

As a "technically challenged" individual it would be great to have a CD to pop in the laptop and enter data in.

Perhaps even a Quick Books template??

Signed........ A customer in waiting.

[Fat Nancy]

http://www.homestead.com/BeeKeepers/Simpsons.html

When this website opens, on the left hand side, there is a link to free software for a handheld. (palm) I downloaded it and plan to use it for my hives. I will only have a couple of hives, but for those of you with a lot of hives to track I think it would be great! I love my palm and am looking to get one for my wife to keep track of her trimming business (horses that is!)

Fat Nancy

[King bee apiary]

I think Michael Bush hit it on the head.Maybe with a little accounting/inventory added to it.
I search for some but only found one and it was too expensive for a newcomer at 350.00 usd.
Anyway maybe one of these computer geeks will check these post and design us a good one.

Thanks

[Jeff]

Michael and All,

If you would like to do something collabrative on a beekeeping software using a Microsoft product such as ACCESS or EXCEL I would be more than happy to program this as my contribution to the effort.

We can then distribute this as a freeware to our fellow beekeepers.

Let me know...

[Sundance]

Wonderful suggestion Jeff. If I were not such an idiot when it comes to that stuff I would be the first to volunteer.

I use Quickbooks for my business. It would be great for something like that. The ability to write checks, track purchases, monitor hives, .......... I guess it is probably not possible?

[Jeff]

Anything is possible. Just depends on how complex you want to make a system. I would suggest starting with high level ideas like you have mentioned and then develop a scope or set of scopes to accomplish the group needs.

You don't have to be a tech guru to participate. If someone has ideas thats qualification enough and the expertise of beekeeping.

The trick is to keep a groups interest in something like this in order to keep it rolling.

[Sundance]

I am fairly naive in the beekeeping end of it.

From the biz side I would love to see:

Check writing capability.
Supplier database fed by check data.
Expense break downs.
Billing capability.
Customer database fed from billing.
Profit reports.
Expense reports.

More when I think of it.............

[justgojumpit]

I run an inventory and track all expenses and income on a spread sheet. it's really not all that hard and you can keep track of anything you want to.

justgojumpit

[buckbee]

Take a look at http://www.gbbg.net/downloads.html and here for the BIBBA stud book http://www.bibba.co.uk/bibbastudbook.html

[Terri]

It was too inconveient to go on line, so I am now using a book.

I use 1 page for every 2 hives. When a page is full I fold it in half and start a new page.

I suppose I will need to get more elaborate when I have more hives, but for now it works.

[Michael Bush]

I just use Ready Date calendars. I can never remember what I did to what to write it down later and I can't spend twice as much time in the heat just to write notes.

[James Burke]

Thanks, Michael, for the PR.

We now produce the Hive-Minder tag that allows you to note a few more things than the Ready-Date calendars. Check out the link below.

http://www.jarsa.net/minder.html

Write for a FREE FREE FREE FREE Sample!


Regards,

Jim

[Jeff]

Michael,

That is a good point, and any system would need to take that into account. This is the correct process for drawing ideas. I just think it would be productive to get this organized and document these ideas, and experiences...if people are receptive and willing to do the work.

I have received at least one email from another software developer offering their services to a project like this.

All we have to do is agree as a group we want this to go forward. I think its worthwhile.

[Jeff]

One more thing that I thought was good from James Burke's message.....


"There are many good ideas just waiting to be hatched. You've just gotta sit on the nest long enough."

[Sundance]

Jeff........ I am excited to hear you have a software developer interested.

Having a palm pilot to record data in the feild would be great...... Transfer data and integrate.

It would be wonderful!!

[Sundance]

Jeff,,,,,, Any progress with this?? Anything I can do? It is a great and needed idea.

[Scotty]

I've got a pretty spiffy Access program here that someone from beesource sent me. It sounds like everything you guys are looking for. However you have to have MS Access in order to run it. It's from someone named Gary..I have their email address, but I am reluctant to put it here. Anyway, if you want to try it out email me and I'll send it to you.

my email address is

chakotay235 at cox dot net

[Jeff]

Never really had any overhelming response so I dropped it.

[nhbeekeeper]

all,

i spent about an hour today creating a Palm based database for beekeeping. it is using a GPL license so you can use it for free and pass it on as you wish.

it tracks hive, queen and revisits information. you can easily add more info as required.

if you really want alot of bells and whistles (close to the power of a windows type app on your palm) then you need to invest in a much more powerful DB like "smartlist to go" $50 (formerly thinkDB). this app will let you easily swap data back and forth with your desktop in which you could run reports and pretty much do anything you want with the data you input. it also allows you to sync between your palm or desktop.

if you want a copy of the GPL DB app and and the sample bee DB send me an email and i will send them both to you via an email attachment.

craig(at)nhbeekeeper.com

[Scotty]

I'm going to see if I can't make a Java version of this. Java is able to run on pretty much any platform.

[Fat Nancy]

Thanks nhbeekeeper!

This is just what I needed. It lets you put in the fields that you want to track and is easy to update. May your supers runith over!

Fat Nancy

[OhioBeeFarmer]

The HiveTool 3.1 palm program has been updated and will continuely be updated for free. Any suggestions are always appreciated.

http://www.bee-keepers.com/HiveTool.html

[OhioBeeFarmer]

BTW Nancy how did the HiveTool program work out for you?

[Troutsqueezer]

I like MB's first response. Microsoft Office Tools can be pretty versatile and most people already have them.

If you get a nice picture of a honeybee and stick it up in the header of your spreadsheet, you've got a bee program and just saved yourself some big bucks! Learning to use these programs for beekeeping will also empower you to also track your family budgets, bills, stocks, etc.

Learning a beekeeping program might take as much time as it would take to learn Excel. Add to that, if the beekeeping program is like most dedicated database programs out there, it will probably suck. I've chucked dozens of programs into the waste basket over the years because they did not have the versatility I needed. The only database programs I use that have withstood the test of time are Excel and Access and along with those: PowerPoint and Word. I've found that some of the better dedicated database programs tend to use the Excel platform anyway.

No two people keep bees the same, do they?

Customize Excel to your needs and you'll have fewer "work-arounds". You're already using the Internet so there's nothing stopping you from going out there and getting information on how to get Excel to work for you.

No, I don't work for Microsoft. Intel, but not Microsoft.

My two, no, make that one cent's worth.