Anyone use something other than a standard Sharpie to write on their metal lids? All my dates and notes seemed to almost disappear in only a week!
Also, for those of you with more than just a couple of hives, I'd love to know what you use to keep track of your notes, inspection information, etc. Not thinking about using software, but I have to come up with a better method to stay organized so I can reference and remember better. I just went from three hives to ten this year, and am lost...
Sharpies and record-keeping
Re: Sharpies and record-keeping
I am old school. I use a small spiral notebook (spiral on top/3" by 5") that fits in my front pocket. I use this during the calendar year to keep notes about individual hives--strong or weak, good brood pattern or bad, too much space or not enough, supers added or removed & nature of frames in them, heavy with feed or light, queen marked or to be marked,date/time/temperature/weather conditions at time of inspection, etc. & what my next step will be with each hive I have inspected. I also note frames of honey for extracting from each hive, varroa testing & treatment method & dates if done. This is my memory for one season, and if careful, the notebook will not fall apart before being replaced by a new one next year.
I do transfer a much reduced amount of information to a "master" notebook. For each hive, I note queen origin, marked or unmarked and color of mark, number of frames of honey the hive produced for extracting, mite counts and treatment types and dates.
I keep my old yearly notebooks, because I never know what may develop later as information about bee seasons that I may want to pull out and use. I use a standard brick as the weight for my outer covers. I always position the brick in one of two ways--one way always indicates on the last inspection, the hive was queenright. If positioned the other way, it always indicates a queen issue to be followed--post swarming & in process of re-queening, some action I took that may have harmed the queen, poor performing queen--anything that causes me to question queen status. I think this is a variation of something Kurt Bower used and told us about at GCBA years ago.
I do transfer a much reduced amount of information to a "master" notebook. For each hive, I note queen origin, marked or unmarked and color of mark, number of frames of honey the hive produced for extracting, mite counts and treatment types and dates.
I keep my old yearly notebooks, because I never know what may develop later as information about bee seasons that I may want to pull out and use. I use a standard brick as the weight for my outer covers. I always position the brick in one of two ways--one way always indicates on the last inspection, the hive was queenright. If positioned the other way, it always indicates a queen issue to be followed--post swarming & in process of re-queening, some action I took that may have harmed the queen, poor performing queen--anything that causes me to question queen status. I think this is a variation of something Kurt Bower used and told us about at GCBA years ago.
Re: Sharpies and record-keeping
I put a strip of duct tape on metal top. Sharpie notes are readable for season at least. I also just use a bee journal. Try to write up soon after. You are right with ten hives sometimes hard to remember which one was which. I will incorporate the queen right brick placement. That is an immediate note that I can refer to for my journal.
Re: Sharpies and record-keeping
I use a spare queen-marking pen to make notes on my hive tops. It lasts longer than the sharpies I used to use.
And for what it’s worth, it’s also super easy to say, “Hey, Siri, make a note,” and just speak your observations. You can add photos as well by saying “…take a picture,” and not have to remove your gloves. I can then record the notes with photos into my beek records later when I can get to it.
And for what it’s worth, it’s also super easy to say, “Hey, Siri, make a note,” and just speak your observations. You can add photos as well by saying “…take a picture,” and not have to remove your gloves. I can then record the notes with photos into my beek records later when I can get to it.