There you lost me @skeggley. What are mp and mb?
Writing on the hive itself is one way to do it. I like that.
Sorry, the two Michael’s, Palmer and Bush.
Both generous with their time and experience.
Check out their websites if you haven’t already.
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I record every time I inspect a hive. This is something that you can do easily when you only have a few hives.
I keep it simple and record manually into a book. It can be of great value to check back over the history of a particular hive or what was happening at a particular time of the year.
Everyone is different so there are countless recording methods. Keep in mind what you your aim of keeping any records are.
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I fell on this old post, thought I’d add my two cents. I set my phone to record and talk my way through inspections, then transpose to the BeePlus app. I make a mess of recording inspections (written or electronic) at the apiary with sticky fingers or gloves. I definitely don’t remember everything at the end of a number of hives, so voice recording works for me.
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Purchased my first 2 hives in 1976…still keep a log. Some events you don’t see happen for intervals of 10 or 20 years…but if you have a log, previously successful hive manipulations under those rare conditions may yield positive results. Even more important is you have a reference to “manipulations that don’t work”. Documenting flowering nectar source bloom times under various conditions gives you a range of what is normal and what isn’t…just takes the guess work out of the picture…and makes you a much more competent beekeeper.
Hey!
I actually just self-published a bee logbook that I put together after being dissatisfied with the other methods and books out there. I made special versions made for California beekeepers and Flow Hive beekeepers.
I’ve found logbooks to be a useful aid for keeping track of my colonies’ progress over time, as well as their health, especially when there are several beekeepers involved in caring for an apiary. I spent a lot of time making my logbook as intuitive as possible, as well as creating reference pages with some of the beekeeping information that I find most useful to have on hand.
I’m a college student and avid hobby beekeeper and I wanted to do something to make beekeeping a little more accessible. Any feedback or questions are of course welcome!
Best, Mateo