[1954Lincoln]

What kind of information do you guys record in a beekeeping jour about your hives?

 

[Nelsonhoneyfarms]

I keep notes on the note app on my iPhone. Depends on the time of year and the kind of hive. Right now if got a nuc with a capped QC. Those notes look like this:

Nuc 3
Date
transplanted CQC on 6/23. Check for eggs queen on 7/14.

One of my honey hive looks like this.

HIVE 3:
4/29: didn’t see queen. Saw eggs. No charges QC.
5/6: saw old red dotted queen. No queen cell. Lots of bees. Don’t appear to be trying to swarm. Super 20% full.
5/15: super 40%
5/30: super 90% capped. Removed to extract. Saw eggs. Good pattern. Lots of bees. Extracted and reinstalled super. Check super on a week.

Be concise and if you need to do something in a week, make sure you note it because if you are like me you will forget. Hope this helps!

 

[1954Lincoln]

Thanks for that info! I had seen the gentleman with the "quiet box" use ear tags to mark info needed for each hive which I thought would be handy.

Do you assign any numbering system to your frames?

 

[Nelsonhoneyfarms]

I don’t number them anymore. I used to do that but it bacame rather unorganized and I just gave up. Which may not be the case for you.

If I want to get that detailed, I will write a note on top of the actual frame itself with a paint pen. For example if they are requeening, I’ll mark the capped queen cell location and side of the frame by writing “CQC” on top with an arrow and date. This helps me to remember to be careful if I’m removing that frame. It also helps me to be in and out really fast when checking to see if a new queen has emerged - I don’t have to go looking for the frame with the QC. Also, if I hive a swarm of bees on foundation, it helps to keep track of their growth. I’ll write what is in each frame with a paint pen. Such as H, E, L, CB, or emt for honey, eggs, larvae, capped brood, or empty. This info along with the date is very handy to check that they are expanding their brood chamber and growing like they should.

This past year, I got tired of keeping IPhone notes on my nucs, so I just started paint penning notes on top of the hive lid itself. At the end of the year, I’ll just repaint the lids white and start over. Seems to have worked well so far.

 

[Nelsonhoneyfarms]

Thanks for that info! I had seen the gentleman with the "quiet box" use ear tags to mark info needed for each hive which I thought would be handy

Like livestock ear tags? That sounds interesting.

Ryan

 

[fatshark]

Hives and queens get separate numbers so I can follow uniting, queenless colonies and lineages. Both numbers are on removal tags on the outside of the box:

Inspections get scored on:
Queenright - Y/N
BIAS (brood in all stages) - #of frames
Stores - Y/N i.e. sufficient or not
Supers - +1, +2, +3 etc.
Temper/Following/Running - scored out of 5
Treatment - Amitraz, OA etc.
Comments - short notes if needed
All takes one line on a form:

Works well.

 

[1954Lincoln]

Hello and thanks for your replys. I wanted to do a couple of inspections before a replied back. I'm finding that I definitely need to have a record keeping system. By the time I finish going through my 2 hives and sweat out all the moisture in my body I'm finding that I can't remember all the details. I feel like I need to go back in after a day or 2 and I understand if the bees are dealing with me they are not taking care of their business.

How long is too long to go through a hive? I think part of the problem is that I feel rushed.

Fatshark -You have temp/running/following, can you explain? Whats funny about this is I popped the top to check their syrup amount after work where I had only shorts and t shirt on. The bees were testy and as I cracked the lid to take a peek they shot out and went for my face. So as I took off, I thought of the section on your list...this is where I put a "yes" for I was running and they were following. I got popped on the legs.��

I will combine both methods and document observations in great detail. This is what i need till I can build up experience with what I'm looking at.

 

[dudelt]

I use a piece of blue painters tape on the lid and write on it with permanent marker. I add new tape when needed. I am not real concerned with lineage or what got combined with what. I am concerned with health, growth, food levels and laying pattern. I will also note things to look at on the next inspection. Permanent records are useless to me. Once spring comes, what happened over the last summer is pretty useless info.

 

[Nelsonhoneyfarms]

So as I took off, I thought of the section on your list...this is where I put a "yes" for I was running and they were following. I got popped on the legs.

Lol that made me laugh!

 

[broncorm]

Anyone using BeePlus app?
https://www.hive-tool.com/
I down loaded it few years ago but am not good at keeping records.
I set rocks on top of the hives that I want to recheck sooner then other but by the time I get back into it I sometimes forget why I needed check the hive again

 

[Biaviian]

I dictate into my phone using a voice recorder so I have record of that. Then I play it through my speaker so Google keep can do voice recognition and save it as a note. From there there is an option to save that note as a Google doc. That allows me to have details of my inspections in three different ways for easy access.

I record the usual stuff plus I keep track of lineage and I mark the top of the frames, scratching them with my hive tool, if I need to identify a frame with a queen cell.

All of my hives are numbered using mailbox numbers.

 

[1954Lincoln]

My wife set up an Jorte calendar app on my kindle that has a really good feature that allows you to keep a diary. The cool thing about it that it lets me set up quick buttons to speed up data entry.

I'm still working on the buttons.

 

[Heinlein]

I keep a spreadsheet. Here is a snapshot.

 

[zombeek]

Im jealous and much less organized.
I write it on top of the box. (Eggs, brood, or if I did anything or Ill not the date I need to recheck them)

 

[username00101]

I tried writing with a marker on top of the hives, but the marker wears out after a month or so, and I can't read anything.

What type of paint pen do you use, exactly?

 

[Heinlein]

Whatever works for you--stone tablets even. I'm too new to beekeeping not to keep as detailed records as I am able. I need to refer to them later.

 

[zombeek]

I tried writing with a marker on top of the hives, but the marker wears out after a month or so, and I can't read anything.

What type of paint pen do you use, exactly?

I use a regular sharpie. Wears off after about 3 weeks. Which is just in time as I tend to check them about every 10 days at most; usually every 2 weeks.

 

[1954Lincoln]

Here is todays notes. Still working on design.

 

[LAlldredge]

What kind of information do you guys record in a beekeeping jour about your hives?

2nd year- really fussy about organization. My work requires it so this is a carryover. Michael Palmer suggested a 3 ring binder on another thread so I went with that a week or so ago and brought forward and condensed the notes from the last two years. I have tabs for each hive and tabs for general beekeeping, nutrition, building projects etc. On the front of the binder there is a clear cover. There's where I slip in my inspection schedule (every 10 days) so at a glance I know when I need to go in next. There's a few popular threads that I have snippets of 1) Michael Palmer overwintering nucs 2) Lauri's sugar bricks recipe 3) Lauri's telescopic cover build etc. Those are printed and in a section. Currently I'm hunting down the "best of BeeSource" to print and retain. I'm a big tech user but paper is more useful to me for this type of thing. PS- not messing around with gear either. Got an UltraBreeze jacket and ordered a tall Dadant smoker. If you're gonna do it then do it.

 

[1954Lincoln]

Here is a feature that allows me to assign pictures to the log.