Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

ocba - Re: [ocba] Record keeping suggestions please

ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Celeste Mayer <cmmayer AT mindspring.com>, Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Record keeping suggestions please
  • Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2017 18:18:24 -0500

Celeste,

Thanks for raising this question -- I loved John's response and would like to hear from others too. This is a great topic because there are no wrong answers and there are lots of opportunities for us all to improve.

I have a great beekeeper friend who keeps notes by writing on the outer cover of each hive with a Sharpie. That's it. But he gets all of what he needs to know on there. I think that's an important point -- what information do you really need in order to meet your goals? Everybody's goals and needs are different.

I keep notes in a pocket-sized spiral notebook and transfer them to a Word document whenever I return to the house. When I first started keeping bees, I had two hives. I recorded the weather, what was blooming, how much smoke I used, how many stings I got from each hive, exactly how much sugar syrup I gave each one and their progress consuming it, and on and on and on. My first year notes cover 9 full pages for 2 hives. Now with ten to fifteen hives, my notes are only a couple of pages per year. My notes no longer mention most things that are normal and expected. My concerns are longevity of queens (including swarming), honey productivity and varroa mite counts. So typical entries during most of the year will be something like:

Hive X: Saw queen, good shape.
Hive Y: DNCQ {did not see queen}, brood of all ages, great shape.
Hive Z: No brood, last saw queen May 5th, probably swarmed, check for new queen on June 15th.

At harvest time (June), my notes record how much honey each colony made, measured in full and partial supers. That lets me know which queens to make more colonies from. I also make careful note of Varroa levels and treatment applications to make sure I am truly controlling them.

If there is a colony that is abnormal, such as overly defensive, underweight compared to the others or has shockingly high hive beetle counts, I make special note of that.

My note-keeping goal is to collect the information that allows me: 1) to identify high-producing colonies with long-lived queens (nonswarmy) to use as mother queens for increase; 2) to recognize queen events (swarming, supersedure, etc.) in order to respond correctly; 3) to control Varroa infestations effectively and efficiently.

Looking back at my notes from the past dozen years, I can make assessments related to these goals that would be impossible if I simply relied on my aging memory. For example, when I have a colony that is limping into fall, I can refer to my notes to see if there is a reason. From where did this colony originate? Did they cast a late spring swarm? Have they always been a "problem child"? Did they look like this last year but rebounded strongly in early spring? In other words, should I invest in them or combine them? It really doesn't require a lot of data points to make that kind of assessment -- just the key ones.

My oldest daughter was looking over my shoulder once as I was entering my notes on my laptop.
She asked, "What's that?"
I said, "This is my beekeeping journal."
She replied, "It's really boring!"
"Well," I said, "it's not for you."

So there. :-)

Randall



On 1/2/2017 12:26 PM, Celeste Mayer wrote:
47510352-544F-40EF-A5D3-94E36E57B842 AT mindspring.com" type="cite">
Hi Everyone, Happy New Year!  I’d love to hear suggestions for record keeping.  I’m reviewing my handwritten notes (that I can read) kept in a monthly calendar note book.  This worked okay during the season for keeping track of in the month or couple of months  activity but not very useful for looking back over the year and long term review.  If you have a system, paper, electronic or purchased software that you really like can you share those ideas?  Thanks so much , Celeste
_________________________________________
ocba mailing list | North Carolina Beekeeping| http://www.theocba.org/
Manage Your Subscription: http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ocba/




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page