Does anyone use an Electronic Hive Log

[HJBee]

I would like to use My iPhone but be able to download extract to a Windows PC. I can only find Beetight, which is $15 a year, issue I have with that is it is hosted in US and don't like how the handle Data Protection. Anyone any others?

[Neils]

I use my own. There are varieties based in excel etc that don't require fees or putting your data in to some elses care. I use access with a .net front end.

You can log inspections into Beebase as well If you want something a bit more platform independent.

[HJBee]

What's the chance of getting a copy of yours, or are you protective of your IPR?

[Neils]

Most of the features in mine turned up in a couple of online services shortly after i started discussing them so I'm not protective any more!

I have a basic spreadsheet record and am working away on a second version of the access based version (which doesn't require the user to actually have access).

The original version was designed by committee originally and hence tried to be all things to all people so I've gone back to the drawing board and decided to come up with a version that from the outset meets my needs first and maybe then I'll look to offer it up to others.

I'd be happy to make available the spreadsheet I use, once I get back to somewhere with a data connection able to cope with more than a forum post.

If I can offer some general opinion around hive records my progression so far has gone:

Year 1 more or less no records kept

Year 2 wrote a novel about each inspection. Hives kept open for ages while I wrote down meticulous notes with predictable results.

Year 3 decided that 90% of what I was trying to note before was essentially pointless information and pared everything back to what I could keep in my head during the inspection.

This year is a further refinement of that, going back through my notes I had trouble figuring out which hive was which so I've screwed numbers onto all the roofs. Have a plan for each apiary and made a few other tweaks to my system.

I dare say that my system won't 100% match what you want/need. A lot of people like 1-10 scales for temperament, for example, I'm far more binary. It's acceptable or it isn't, simple as that.

In the apiary I'm still very much paper based, propolis and iPhones don't mix, I've contemplated a dictaphone type affair but paper works for me, every couple of months or even at the end of the season I stick the paper records onto computer.

[EmsE]

I tried the dictaphone and found it worked really well......until I tried it when my daughter came with me. When I played the recording back that evening, all I could hear was her chattering away continuously for the whole inspection! I think it was about that point that my attempt at keeping hive records failed yet again.

This year is off to a good start. I'm not bothering with any excel sheets or tables which have all started off well at the beginning of the season, but I've not managed to see them through past the beginning of July. Im just making the briefest notes on the status of each hive now and I can still see at a glance of each how it is progressing and what I need to consider for the next visit so still doing everything I need them to.

My hive numbering system is working well and is more a case of labelling the queen rather than the hive, however after being moved twice now since the new year, it's difficult remembering which is which so have been thinking of putting a sticker on the crown board of each. This can be easily replaced when the Queen changes.

[Jon]

Roger Patterson's record sheet is good enough for me. It has a line for each inspection and you can get a years colony checking on 2 sides of A4.
I keep the record sheet under the roof in a plastic pocket so that I can look at it immediately before I look in a colony and write it up immediately after I have finished. On an inspection I note if the queen is seen and eggs present, colony temper, number of frames of brood, any sign of disease such as varroa, chalk brood or patchy brood pattern, total number of supers, level of stores, and any actions I need to carry out within the next week or so. Each colony/queen has a number which is written on the record sheet. If the colony is split, the record sheet follows the queen. A form of shorthand is useful. BIAS, brood in all stages, DB, drone brood Api, apiguard etc.

[Neils]

Emse, I think the important thing is that however you work out the records that they work for you. I've considered making the queen the primary focus before but for various reasons have stuck with the hive instead. Not least because queens tend to be fairly transient when it comes to location.

I guy round these parts writes on the roof with permanent marker. It fades out over winter but tells him what he considers the pertinent information about each colony.

[EmsE]

Emse, I think the important thing is that however you work out the records that they work for you.

I totally agree Nellie.

[HJBee]

I keep the record sheet under the roof in a plastic pocket so that I can look at it immediately before I look in a colony and write it up immediately after I have finished. On an inspection I note if the queen is seen and eggs present, colony temper, number of frames of brood, any sign of disease such as varroa, chalk brood or patchy brood pattern, total number of supers, level of stores, and any actions I need to carry out within the next week or so.

This sounds like a practical way and appeals to my endless list writing and ticking off systems generally - thanks for the advice again guys.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I have changed from using Excel to Evernote. The table format is much simpler to use and can be broken off easily to make extra notes across the page, and then resumed again. I'm not sure how long I'll stay using it, but for now I like it. It can be synced between all your computers and the web-based version. Also, you can use it with an iPhone or iPad - but I have no experience of that. If HJ wants to use her iPhone, then she might want to give Evernote a try.
Kitta