Hive Records

[Kate Atchley]

Elegantly thought through and arranged Al. Thanks for sharing. For me a bit too detailed but thankfully we're all different, as are the bees!
Kate

[gavin]

That's a lovely blog Al, thanks. I'll be back for a better look when I've time.

[Neils]

Al. Nice post. Only thing I'd suggest with regards to your detailed record sheet is that you want to be able to hold all the information in your head. Once you're at the point of lifting a frame, looking at it, putting it back, putting the smoker down, putting your hive tool away, looking for the pen that's rolled off the hive roof next door and then filling out the sheet is that you find that a 5 minute inspection suddenly turns into an hour while you record information that, fundamentally, doesn't tell you a great deal and all the while the hive is open and getting more and more annoyed about it.

I did something similar last year on the basis that the more detail the better, right? In the end I found I was taking longer to do the reports than I was looking at bees and that fundamentally staring at a sheet of foundation didn't actually tell me anything useful.

Give it a go by all means, but be prepared to amend and perhaps be a little smarter about how your data collection works. My system calculates unused frames automatically, I enter stores and brood, everything else must be unused. Do I care if it's foundation or comb? Not really. Likewise knowing in great detail how much brood was eggs or larvae or sealed didn't actually tell me much of great use compared to a box marked BAS (brood in all stages).

Not trying to put you off or be overly critical, just seeing something very familiar in what you're trying to do.

[EmsE]

One thing about starting off recording 'everything' is that you'll find out what parts you find useful & those that don't and then can adapt to your own style.

[Trog]

As I mentioned upthread, my method of record-keeping is a tiny notebook which is in my bee jacket with the pencil inside the spiral binding where it can't get lost. I write up the notes once I've done a colony and put its roof back and before going on to the next one. I'm going to be trying to use proper record cards soon and it will be interesting to see if more structured data recording improves my beekeeping. Still space for comments like, 'queen seen - gorgeous!', though

[justal]

Thanks for the feedback on my (too detailed) hive record cards. Luckily my wife and 6 year old some are embarking on the beekeeping adventure with me so there's always someone about to make notes whilst someone else actually manipulates the frames etc. We won't record 'everything' on every inspection but we'll find out which things are importnat and useful to us and record those all of the time and then make more thorough notes on some occasions.

Glad you all like the blog by the way.

Al.

[Neils]

An extra pair of hands or two always comes in handy

I think most people like to record different things, look at the vast array of different record cards that are out there already. I didn't mean to sound as dismissive about it as I perhaps did, I whittled my inspection records down from a veritable novel to begin with and settled on a system that works for me so good luck with working out yours