# Hive Inspection Checklist - Got a Good One?



## MES613 (Nov 19, 2010)

I've cranked up the effort a bit in this, my second year of beekeeping --- moving from six hives in one yard to twenty+ hives in five different yards. I've also taken on a partner of sorts, and he and I will share inspection duties and other responsibilities. So I am looking for a way for my partner and I to discipline ourselves to communicate relevant information about the condition of our hives, and any steps that need to be taken.

I used Hivetracks for my apiary last summer, and I was generally pleased with that. But I found the process of writing down my notes on paper during hive inspections and later transferring them to Hivetracks to be both cumbersome and also not the best way to capture the important information. So, for example, noting capped brood in the bottom deep of a hive is good to know, but being able to recall which frame(s) and how much brood would be better, and the details of any particular hive seem to fade from my memory before I can transcribe the data from my notes to Hivetracks. So having a hive-side checklist that forces certain observations would be useful to me.

I recall recently seeing what I thought was a pretty good hive inspection checklist in one of the magazines, either Bee Culture or American Bee Journal. But I can't seem to find that article. Does anyone know offhand which issue that checklist was in?

Additionally, although I've looked through the Beesource archives, I haven't found a checklist that really speaks to me.

Have you got a hive inspection checklist that you wouldn't mind sharing with us?

Thanks for your help.


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## scdw43 (Aug 14, 2008)

Yes 

1. Is there open brood and eggs. If not add a frame of eggs

2. Are there enough stores in the hive. If not feed.

3. Are they crowded if yes add a box.

4. Close hive, write on hive what needs to be done with crayon

I don't leave a hive if I see a problem, I can fix ,until it is fixed. If I do leave and can't fix it, that is what the crayon is for.

When I leave the yard the crayon inventory is written down so I know what to bring back the next time.

But that is just me. I spent 26 years in the Army I am allergic to paper work.


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## FlagstaffBaughs (Apr 9, 2012)

Here is one that I have come up with I am more visual and also being able to just make check marks when your hands are sticky is nice. Scince it is out there now any ideas on improvment would be appreciated.


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## buzz abbott (Mar 6, 2012)

FlagstaffBaughs said:


> View attachment 2026
> Here is one that I have come up with I am more visual and also being able to just make check marks when your hands are sticky is nice. Scince it is out there now any ideas on improvment would be appreciated.


When I click on your pic I get a poor image so can't see it well. Not an idea for an improvement, sigh.


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## FlagstaffBaughs (Apr 9, 2012)

lets try this again here is the page scanned.






hope this helps. In the configuration area I'd draw boxes that represent the hive components ie. bottom board, hive bodies, excluder, suppers, and lid in those boxes. I'd use a "Q" to denote where the queen was found or mabey a cell. On the thorax of the queen pic I would label a "Y" for a yellow queen I suppose one could even get as crazy as actualy filling in the circle with color provided that they have mastered crayons or colored pencils, ha! the 1-10 boxes are representing frames. Again I would use a letter to anotate D = drawn comb B = brood H= honey E = empty. this helps to judge when to add or remove frames. A small area for notes, spaces for weather data, a couple of yes no checks. so if any body can improve by all means do.


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## dehavik (Jun 5, 2010)

Try this one:

http://www.weberbeekeepersassociation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Hive-Inspection-Form.pdf


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## tben (Dec 28, 2008)

Here's a webpage with a few record keeping options. http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/assessmentcriteria.html


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## MES613 (Nov 19, 2010)

Thank you all for your input. I think that the best solution for me is to "pinch" a little from each of these and to develop a form for our use. I will post that when I get to it, and again ask for suggestions and input.

Does any one recall a recent hive-inspection form in one of the recent issues of Bee Culture or American Beekeeper? I thought that I saw a pretty good checklist in tone of those, but I can;t seem to track it down.

Again, many thanks.


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## suburbanrancher (Aug 5, 2011)

I only have 2 hives and I tried to use paper last year but it was such a pain! I switched to recording the inspection via the voice memo feature on my iPhone and then transcribing what I heard. This may be too cumbersome for 20 hives though.


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