Keeping good records
Record what and how much
Basic Assessment: The importance of record-keeping
There are several approaches:
Keep it simple and go into detail as soon as you spot a problem. Check for eggs, brood, space, and stores.
Go detailed all the time. Otherwise, you won’t find it easy to interpret when things go wrong. For example, rather than recording BIAS (brood in all stages — which is in common usage), estimating the number of brood frames shows the colony's growth and vigour and gives some sense of whether they are planning to swarm. Below are my notes for a badly behaved colony.
Do it when necessary: For example, after you’ve split your colonies, both parts can be left alone for four weeks. Rarely do they fail to re-queen themselves.
Find your preferred way of making records
Paper: blows away, gets soggy, and munched by mice.
Using a tablet: is slow (wrap it in cling film to protect it from propolis)
Paper/card records and subsequently transfer them to a spreadsheet at home.
Dictate: The headset falls off, the recorder/phone gets sticky, and the buttons are too small.
Keep them smart
H / Hive or Nuc position, TB - top / bottom box, e - eggs, QCo - open QC, QCc - closed QC, B - brood boox, S - super, r/v - review date, Stores, feed, malady - varroa treatments etc, Tepr - temperment 0 - 10 (subjective), clime - weather, Spc - space
Keep them Tatty
The critical things to record (besides eggs, space, and stores) are the details of manipulations and aberrations, their temperament, varroa status, and whether the queen is marked.
Marking hives
Numbering hives is handy if you have a few. Some people use the number tag to designate the queen so that they can track her if she moves hives. I mark them according to their position.
The top record shows what happens if a colony attempts to swarm and then imperfectly supersedes. By the end of August, the colony had a satisfactory amount of brood, enough to over-winter. If you have difficulty seeing eggs, you could increase the frequency of your inspections from 7 to 5 days.
Do a check twice a year when you solely concentrate on detecting signs of disease.
Records helps decide which queens to breed from.
For example, award points (0-10) that define their docility, (although some behaviours, like following, need weighting).
bees leave the hive when it is opened
one flies around your head,
defensive bees line up in cracks
Restless on the comb
Fly up when your hand passes over the box
An unprovoked sting
Several unprovoked stings
Multiple fly against your visor and attempt to force their way into your suit
Follow within 2 meters
Follow more than 2 meters
