Naming Conventions

I'm just playing with a beekeeping management software package and I'm wondering whether to migrate earlier records across (it could be time consuming).

My earlier records have been hive-based and I have occasionally regretted the fact that I had not gone down the colony-based route for recording (i.e. track the Queen).

Any suggestions for naming conventions and methodology (apiary, hive, queen, colony level)?

Moggs said:

I'm just playing with a beekeeping management software package and I'm wondering whether to migrate earlier records across (it could be time consuming).

My earlier records have been hive-based and I have occasionally regretted the fact that I had not gone down the colony-based route for recording (i.e. track the Queen).

Any suggestions for naming conventions and methodology (apiary, hive, queen, colony level)?

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This reminds me of the old chestnut, " I've had this yard broom 30 years, it has had 10 new handles and 8 new broom heads and it's still in good condition after all these years .
This year (after twenty odd years) I've started tabulating using the hive stands ,after all it's the most static part of the operation .
I look back on old records and quite frankly they are meaningless with reference to my present stocks ! Using open matings, picking up swarms leaves me at a loss as the the lineage of most of my queens .
VM

A good point VM. I'll reassess the real value of the old records - they can be archived as a csv anyway.

I agree with you VM it's difficult to know what to use as a reference point as there are so many variables what with changing queens, brood boxes, AS's etc.

Regarding old records, I archive mine on 1st Jan and start afresh. Regarding queen lineage I name my queens in a way that allows me to monitor their parentage (mother) and note where they were mated.

For example I have a queen AK2/11 She is descended from a queen that came with a swarm from Arkwright (AK) she is second generation from that queen (2) and is a 2011 queen 11. My notes show she was mated at my home apiary where I know there is a high proportion of Buckfast colonies locally. Another queen I bought from Ged Marshall last year is GM1/11; not very romantic names but at least I can track their history.

Its a classic dillema this one.

What I do is if say I nuc a queen as part of swarm control then the record card goes with her as it is her performance that it relates to not the colony that is left in the hive.

Over recording though can bring it's own problems, as in too much info which then becomes utterly irrelevant.

PH

nonstandard said:

...
For example I have a queen AK2/11 She is descended from a queen that came with a swarm from Arkwright (AK) she is second generation from that queen (2) and is a 2011 queen 11. My notes show she was mated at my home apiary where I know there is a high proportion of Buckfast colonies locally. Another queen I bought from Ged Marshall last year is GM1/11; not very romantic names but at least I can track their history.

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That seems like a good shorthand naming method - but what do you do when you've created a few new colonies from the same mother? So, what would you call AK2/11's sisters of the same year?
Kitta
PS: I've just noticed this is a very old thread that's been revived and Nonstandard might not even see my question!
PPS. They're all old! Sorry folks - I don't know why Tapatalk plonked this thread in my Unread section which should contain only new posts. Blame Tapatalk.

Madge said:

I don't know why Tapatalk plonked this thread in my Unread section which should contain only new posts. Blame Tapatalk.

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Blame a spammer, MC, there was a post here from one a short while ago, but got removed.

as I have a data processing background, can I suggest that a common mistake is to only use one identifier for both hive and queen. You need to have two.

A "Hive identifier", so that you know which of the hives you are working with (physical location),
AND
A "Queen identifier", so that you can track each individual queen (lineage).

At any one time, you need the two identities to record what's going on in any one hive,
For a manual record process, keep two record cards, or two books, one for Hive related, one for Queen related.
If using cards or loose paper, keep the Queen card with the relevant Hive card.
and to tie it all together, record separately a simple table of "Date / Q-id / H-id"
so that you can easily work out which queen is or was with which hive at any time.

So, you'd record treatments and number of supers for a Hive,
but laying rate, general colony temperament and swarming for a Queen.
Honey production could be recorded against both.
(so as to be able to analyse the effect of both lineage and hive location/conditions/treatments on production)

It's easier to do with IT, you'd have each 'inspection note' recorded with two keys using the Q-id and H-id, so making it easy to analyse and plan from either key.

on the IT side of things, any "beekeeping package" that won't allow you to record and filter information by Queen-id AND/OR Hive-id won't be worth having.

A simple record can be kept using a spreadsheet (Excel, Libreoffice Calc, etc)
For a small number of hives, do it all on a single sheet.
For a large number of Hives, use a sheet for each Queen and one for each Hive, with a master sheet linking date/hive/queen.

The secret is in the organisation:
At it's simplest, use 4 columns, headed: Date, Hive-id, Queen-id and Notes.

On each inspection, fill in every cell in a row.
To analyse, you can filter the sheet by Hive-id or Queen-id.

You could add extra columns such as 'Honey Extracted', 'Treatments Applied', 'Apiary Location' (if you have more than one), but keep it simple to start with.

This means that things like honey production can be compared by each key id, and even if queens or hives are moved between apriaries, you can then easily review the records by filtering on the different columns.

I use a yard sheet for each of my apiaries. Each hive is numbered. I maintain the information on each hive until it dies or I re-queen it. At that point the slate is wiped clean.

Hivemaker. said:

Blame a spammer, MC, there was a post here from one a short while ago, but got removed.

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Thanks Hivemaker - that explains it!