# Beekeeping Record Keeping



## Scott Gough (Dec 10, 2015)

Here is a link to a thread where record keeping was discussed in 2013...

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ot-to-be-a-better-way&highlight=recordkeeping

Here are some links to hive inspection forms...

http://www.bkcorner.org/documents/hive-inspection-sheet.pdf

http://www.pugetsoundbees.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Hive-Inspection-Sheet_PSBA.pdf

http://osceola.ifas.ufl.edu/pdfs/CSA/KVBA_Hive_Inspection_Sheet.pdf

https://www.formsbank.com/template/...eepers-association-hive-inspection-sheet.html

I have used a couple of these when I started but just now take notes and input those into a spreadsheet when I am in the office. Do an internet search for "bee hive inspection sheet" and you will come up with a lot of examples and suggestions.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

My first question to you would be: What do you want to get from this record keeping?

The links Scott listed above are a great place to start. I tried an extensive record keeping journal a few years a go and found the "paperwork/computer work" to be too time consuming. The rest of my life is very busy and keeping extensive records for a beekeeping hobby with 10 hives is more than I want at this time. I still keep a journal but only list important issues. If I see problems, I list them and continue to follow up until the issue is gone. If I see nothing, I write nothing. I do list re-queening and treatments and dates but not much more. I keep the journal in a spreadsheet with a different tab for each year.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

I use 5x8 inch file cards, one card for each colony. I could put the card under the TC, but I prefer to keep the cards in the ice chest that I use for a work bench. That way if I want to check something I don't have to go further than the utility room to get the figures. I start a new card each year with a beginning entry that carries over the info from the previous October, when I close up for the winter. This method works OK for my 25 colonies, but if I was going to keep more than 25, I would find a good computer program.

How I would like to have a program like the old Q&A that I used on DOS.


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## JWPalmer (May 1, 2017)

DTD350, I dont mean to be harsh but since you are still referring to your bees as having absconded, I think your first record keeping task should be monitoring mite loads and treatments. I know that it is high on my list for next year as I lost two hives in November. The difference here is that I know it was mites, even though it looked like an absconded hive. The truth that we all need to accept is that bees do not abscond in the fall, they die.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

AR Beekeeper said:


> This method works OK for my 25 colonies, but if I was going to keep more than 25, I would find a good computer program.


The more hives I have, the fewer records I keep. 

When I had fewer hives (10 or so) I kept a notebook. One page her hive per year. I recorded things like brood size, diseases, temperament, ect. When I got more hives (20 or so) I found I was combining and splitting hives a little too often, and it made the "one page per hive" rule kind of difficult. I switched to digital. When I got more hives (40 or so) I realized I wasn't doing anything with the data, and was really just spinning my wheels. 

This year I only kept written (on paper) records of one thing: honey yields. For everything else I took a page out of Mike Palmer's book and used a sharpie marker right on the hive cover. But rather than writing down most things, I only wrote down things that told me the hive maintains desire-able qualities (good brood pattern, mite counts, good temperament, ect) in addition to the lineage of the colony. Whenever a hive displayed a poor quality (high mite count, defensive, swarmy, runny) I made a note of it, but it was the last note I made, as it was removed from the breeding pool, until the queen is replaced (and then it starts all over again). Once a hive gets defensive, it doesn't matter to me how many frames of brood, pollen, mites the hive has. The genetics need to go. 

For everything else, writing it down doesn't help you very much. See a problem, fix it. Move on. Next problem. 

But if it was my first or second year, I'd probably write everything down. The next year you likely won't, but you'll learn alot along the way.


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## DTD350 (Jun 9, 2016)

Scott Gough said:


> Here is a link to a thread where record keeping was discussed in 2013...
> 
> http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...ot-to-be-a-better-way&highlight=recordkeeping
> 
> ...


Thank you. I printed these out and will look them over. Looks good. One of these is from Beekeeper Corner. I listen to his podcast and really enjoy it.


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## DTD350 (Jun 9, 2016)

dudelt said:


> My first question to you would be: What do you want to get from this record keeping?
> 
> The links Scott listed above are a great place to start. I tried an extensive record keeping journal a few years a go and found the "paperwork/computer work" to be too time consuming. The rest of my life is very busy and keeping extensive records for a beekeeping hobby with 10 hives is more than I want at this time. I still keep a journal but only list important issues. If I see problems, I list them and continue to follow up until the issue is gone. If I see nothing, I write nothing. I do list re-queening and treatments and dates but not much more. I keep the journal in a spreadsheet with a different tab for each year.


Yeah I see what you are saying. I am looking to record information so if I have a problem I can go back and look what I did and make a change to not replicate the problem. I want to record activities done, timing, what I saw/counted, what I did to combat problems, suggestions to stop problems or be better at treatments, etc.


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## DTD350 (Jun 9, 2016)

JWPalmer said:


> DTD350, I dont mean to be harsh but since you are still referring to your bees as having absconded, I think your first record keeping task should be monitoring mite loads and treatments. I know that it is high on my list for next year as I lost two hives in November. The difference here is that I know it was mites, even though it looked like an absconded hive. The truth that we all need to accept is that bees do not abscond in the fall, they die.


Agreed. Because I have no records I don't know for sure it was absconding for mite loads. I am assuming it was absconding because one day I fed my bees and I had a decent number flying around, 2 days later when I went to feed them again, there was not a bee to be found in the hive. No dead ones inside or in the grass in front of the hive. Also, not a morsel of honey, or sugar syrup was found in the hive. But, I did have mites which I treated for with MAQ's so I could have been that too. Live and learn I guess. Will definitely be more proactive in the mite monitoring next season.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

DTD350 said:


> I want to record activities done, timing, what I saw/counted, what I did to combat problems, suggestions to stop problems or be better at treatments, etc.


Beekeeping is a healthy mix of science and art. In part it's what keeps me driven and engaged in the topic. The science part of things involves a healthy mix of an understanding of biology (of both the bees and their parasites), genetics, microbiology (viruses, bacteria, fungi), botany, and weather, to name only a few. Many of those factors are long lasting, meaning it depends on the weather last winter that impacts your spring.

The reason I bring this up is that not everything you can write down will matter. You won't be able to learn everything from what you write down. You won't be able to prevent the problem from happening next year unless you write down all of the impacting factors. Which is very difficult in beekeeping. 

Instead, I'd suggest you maintain three separate "inputs" for lack of a better term:
1. Calendar - write down the projected bloom dates, treatment dates, flow dates, super dates, feed dates, ect. 
2. Management Rules - create certain rules on management strategies. For example, when you see swarm cells what do you do? When a super is full, what do you do?
3. Notes for everything else.

As your year progresses, you can review your calendar to see if you need to make any changes for next year. As you begin, you'll likely have very few management rules. But they'll grow. As they grow, you can evaluate how they interact. As you begin, your notes will be somewhat large. As you grow, you'll start noticing how some things don't matter (does it matter that you added one super or two on the 1st or on the 4th?), and other things REALLY matter (mite counts, weights of hives going into winter, frames of bees in spring). For the things that really matter, make a new rule on it. And revise.


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

DTD350 said:


> Will definitely be more proactive in the mite monitoring next season.


Check every month the weather is above 60 degrees. EVERY MONTH. When you get above your threshold (you decide), treat. No questions, no exceptions.

Writing this down without either a strategy, or a management rule, does little help.

After doing this for two years or so, you'll get a better idea of how quickly mite numbers can change. Then you can test every other month, or three times a year, or whatever.


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## DTD350 (Jun 9, 2016)

Specialkayme said:


> Beekeeping is a healthy mix of science and art. In part it's what keeps me driven and engaged in the topic. The science part of things involves a healthy mix of an understanding of biology (of both the bees and their parasites), genetics, microbiology (viruses, bacteria, fungi), botany, and weather, to name only a few. Many of those factors are long lasting, meaning it depends on the weather last winter that impacts your spring.
> 
> The reason I bring this up is that not everything you can write down will matter. You won't be able to learn everything from what you write down. You won't be able to prevent the problem from happening next year unless you write down all of the impacting factors. Which is very difficult in beekeeping.
> 
> ...


This sounds like great advice. Thank you. I guess starting out recording the 3 inputs you lined out here would be a good place to start.


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## DTD350 (Jun 9, 2016)

Specialkayme said:


> Check every month the weather is above 60 degrees. EVERY MONTH. When you get above your threshold (you decide), treat. No questions, no exceptions.
> 
> Writing this down without either a strategy, or a management rule, does little help.
> 
> After doing this for two years or so, you'll get a better idea of how quickly mite numbers can change. Then you can test every other month, or three times a year, or whatever.


This sounds like a good strategy. Thank you.


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## dudelt (Mar 18, 2013)

DTD350 said:


> Agreed. I am assuming it was absconding because one day I fed my bees and I had a decent number flying around, 2 days later when I went to feed them again, there was not a bee to be found in the hive. No dead ones inside or in the grass in front of the hive. Also, not a morsel of honey, or sugar syrup was found in the hive.


I had one lost hive this year with that exact scenario. It was definitely mite related. My best guess is that the hive was already a goner and being robbed and you did not recognize it as such. Pull some of the frames and look at the edges of the comb opening especially in areas that previously held honey stores. Are they rough looking or smooth? Rough indicates robbing. Do you see wax pieces on the bottom board or near the entrance? If yes, also a sign of robbing and a good clue that there are issues without even opening the hive. Look inside brood comb to see if there are little pieces of white mite frass in them. Usually, I find clumps of cells with this issue if the loss is mite related. This is some of what I look at when doing a hive autopsy. Look at all the frames and pick out what doesn't look right. If you have questions, and are looking for confirmation, you know exactly where to ask them!


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

DTD350 said:


> What records does everyone keep? How is it organized? What program does everyone use? What information is worth noting down for future review?


I guess what you track in your bees depends on what you want. If you have a few hives, maybe you only track production. If your buying queens, you might want to track things like temper and disease and brood pattern. If You're raising queens, and trying to select breeders from your operation, you might want to track more things like how fast they build in the spring, how they act on the comb, how they set up their broodnest for winter, how fecund they are, how much propolis they use, and how varroa build up.


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## Cloverdale (Mar 26, 2012)

AR Beekeeper said:


> How I would like to have a program like the old Q&A that I used on DOS.


Wow, that is a LONG time ago; I keypunched those programs at work a LONG time ago! I like the idea of cards for each hive, easier to view and handy.


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## Cjj (Dec 12, 2015)

I use the Michael Palmer method , the hive top, duck tape , sharpie,
honey production , mites , temperament , brood Patterns on top of the hive , I do keep track of queens in a notebook


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## Spur9 (Sep 13, 2016)

I use the app BeePlus (iOS version). I voice record notes as I do inspections. Take pics too. I then listen to the recordings and input what I want into the app. Brood size, queen specs, comb issues, temperament, guess as to species of bee, to do’s. I prefer it to paper. 

I am currently keeping 20 hives, so take that into consideration. I don’t think I’d enjoy all that typing with more hives.


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## ApricotApiaries (Sep 21, 2014)

First, good for you to realize the importance of record keeping. 

I keep hive-hive records by writing on the lid (mostly, but I write the queen lineage on the front of the hive) with a lumber crayon, which they sell at most hardware stores. You want one that is more chaalky than waxy. Wax sticks too well and is difficult to remove. The drier feeling ones stick well enough for the season but can be erased with a little scrubbing. I think we use Dixon or markall, you can get-em from mann lake. I know other beekeepers who use grease-pens. same idea. 
The trick is developing some kind of shorthand that you understand. I write the date and what i did. If the hive looks good and I do nothing, i just date. 
Some shorthand:
-1 removed a frame of brood
+1 added a frame of brood
+7R added a 2017 (or 2007) Rick Shubert queen. 
KQ Killed queen
-Q removed queen (as in it went into a nuc)
-QC's removed queen cells
HQC-hatched queen cells
I put frown faces and the date in the lower right corner if they are overly aggressive (three strikes they are out).
I put stars on the upper right corner if they are standout hives for brood, honey, overall feel,...
You get the idea. 

My other notes are yard by yard which I keep in a notebook. basically a summary of whats going on, or gone on. Overall productivity...

Here's a picture of a marked up lid. Its not any real notes, I just made it up for a class I was teaching.


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## Hogback Honey (Oct 29, 2013)

I attempted log books on my hives when I first started. I finally figured that the best way to record information was to use my iphone. I tell siri to 'take a note' and I talk into the phone. I start at 'hive #1' then do 'hive #2' etc.... When I get time I go into the house, read my notes and make corrections, as sire does not transcribe very well, then print the notes out. Put them in a binder. I've gotten to where I don't even do that any more.


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## 109651 (Jun 26, 2015)

I use duct tape on top of the telescoping outer cover and immediately capture important notes with a sharpie marker in my own shorthand, an example would look something like this : "11/12/17 Tumeric QR, ETOH 1/300, 2:1 ss dc'd, ~candy board" translates to: Date, Queen Right hive Turmeric (I name my queens according to the color year, in this case yellow), Alcohol wash done for a mite count 1/300, feeding 2:1 sugar syrup discontinued and candy board placed." Then after I jot my notes I snap a pic with an iphone camera of my notes as well as the whole hive. (I also use a sharpie to mark the name of the Queen in the right corner of the facing edge of the top cover so I can reference the hive easily in pictures). I keep a record of all on google photos with unlimited storage. If I remember, I will upload the information to HiveTracks, especially a "To-Do" list to print. Hive Tracks also has all my queen information and notes on productivity stored there. Usually I have 3-5 strips of tape on each hive so I can compare prior inspections with the current one. As the sharpie notes fade in about a month's time, I just write over the previous faded marks and I don't worry about taking the tape off.


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## Hillbillybees (Mar 3, 2016)

inspection dates, E(eggs) y or n, P (population/seams of bees) T temperament, 
B brood, H honey, V virgin, QC queen cell, + or - frames of honey or brood moved or added, P pollen
We want to know at a glance what was seen or performed in the last inspection. If a QC was added did it emerge and is she laying yet then that's what we are looking for. Mite checks are performed monthly and recorded as a number. Frames of honey are a number, Pollen coming in is y or n, N nectar coming in y or n.
What we are looking for is if something was performed did it solve the issue? Did population go up or down or remain the same. When did the flow start and stop. When did pollen start and stop. Brood pattern is a number 1 to 5.

Inspections are generally less than a minute unless something is identified then more time is taken to correct it. A 3 inch piece of a 2x4 with a yellow side and a red side is used to note a problem and a severe issue. These hives are checked on the next inspection to make sure the issue was corrected. 

All our people learn that first and no matter who is in the hive they know what was seen last time. It works for us and recording the info and adding a note is more valuable than the 30 seconds it takes to leave the info. I use it to check my people by stopping by a yard and pulling a few and see if they reported the conditions correctly. 
So in short come up with your shorthand. It won't take long and you will know what info is important to you.


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