What method do you use to keep your bee notes?

[erbs honey]

I have kept my bee notes with just a notebook up to now.  I'm working on making a template for my bee notes.  Suggestions for some of the things I might put on it  ????

[Oldbeavo]

Paint the top of your lids white, buy a paint pen and write your notes on the lid
Date then action or note.
Top right corner - date, how many supers of honey taken off.
Bottom right corner, date fizzy, date cranky. also RQ = requeen

Always there, no sticky paper, pen won't write, don't have to have a code or number system to find the right page.
Keep it simple

[Ben Framed]

Paint the top of your lids white, buy a paint pen and write your notes on the lid
Date then action or note.

This has been my method from the start. Works well for me and always up to date. I use a red or blue paint pen for this. 😊

[AR Beekeeper]

What is of interest to me is: the numbers of adult bees (strong, medium, weak),  frames/amount of food stores, queen status, frames of brood, and is there any disease seen/type.  I log mite wash numbers when I do them and what is used as a varroa treatment and when it is applied.

I use file cards to record the information, and because they get covered in propolis, I transfer the information to a clean card to file.  The yard work cards I keep in my work stool.   

[beesnweeds]

  I tried the hive inspection sheets for a short while and it just didn't work out.  There's plenty of templates online.  Because I do frequent inspections, mite counts, etc. I ended up with too many inspections sheets that had almost useless information on them.  I'm not a the best note taker/writer, so I ended up going back to the old notebook flipped to the next page with the date on top.

[The15thMember]

I have always used Little Giant's beehive log.  When I ran out of sheets, I just copied them with my printer so I didn't have to keep buying the little booklets.  The only thing about it that I feel is missing is there is only a spot for the number of supers, not the number of boxes total, so I just write the total boxes in the super category.  Also there is no box for waxworms, so I add that category if I see any. 
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[erbs honey]

I have always used Little Giant's beehive log.  When I ran out of sheets, I just copied them with my printer so I didn't have to keep buying the little booklets.  The only thing about it that I feel is missing is there is only a spot for the number of supers, not the number of boxes total, so I just write the total boxes in the super category.  Also there is no box for waxworms, so I add that category if I see any. 
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Thanks for all of your replies!  This is very useful!

[TheHoneyPump]

1. Current Population size:   = Number frames covered in bees
2. Population size next week:  = Number of frames of capped brood x2. Brood is bees on order and capped brood those bees are shipped ;)
3. Living and working space: size of hive in boxes/frames.
4. Queenrite and queen performance. Pattern and density.
Based on 1 + 2 - 3 = ? .   Do they have enough room? Do they have too much room?  Will they have enough next week when the newbees arrive? Take necessary action on the spot. Closeup and move to the next hive. 

Whether to bother with notes or not at all is dependent on number of hives you have and what detail level you want to get down to.

[Ben Framed]

I have always used Little Giant's beehive log.

Little giant has some good stuff. I have one of their chicken incubators for queen cells.  It can hold 200 cells if set up properly. I do not have such a large need, but the price was right and is handy even for a few QCs...  I found it at one of the tractor stores in my area...

[Bob Wilson]

I only keep three horizontal hives and 2 nucs. I settled on this half sheet (8.5X5.5") page I created in MS Word. I can note individual frame issues, etc. One page contains that week's inspection for all of them. Works good for me right now.

[cao]

I thought about using a notebook, but I only go through my hives completely during swarm season in the spring or if I see something seriously wrong.  I use painter's tape on the back of the hive with a permanent marker to write any notes. 
Some of what I write down: 
date
seen queen, y or n
eggs, y or n
if the hive is mean or nice
how much room they have
if and how many honey frames are capped
where the brood nest is in the stack of boxes
queen cells/cups present
what needs to be done during next inspection and how soon

[Kathyp]

wow.  you guys are organized.

I use the "I'll remember this" method.  I have to say that it is not foolproof!   

[Ben Framed]

 

[paus]

 :grin:X2  Well I didn't get smiley face but you get the idea.

[cao]

I use the "I'll remember this" method.  I have to say that it is not foolproof!   

I did that too until I had more than 5 hives.  If I don't write something down right after I close up a hive, I forget it as soon as I open the next one.

[Bob Wilson]

X2, Cao.
Although I am not sure if my brain just is not geared to remember the details of a hive, or if I have allowed myself to become a lazy, sloppy thinker, and not mentally pay better attention.

[Oldbeavo]

Don't worry Bob, we would put a stone on a hive to remind us to do something, but come back in 2 weeks and look at each other and say "why did we put that stone on"
So paint pens on white lids, plus maybe a stone to remind us to looks at the hive and read the note.

[Ben Framed]

Don't worry Bob, we would put a stone on a hive to remind us to do something, but come back in 2 weeks and look at each other and say "why did we put that stone on"
So paint pens on white lids, plus maybe a stone to remind us to looks at the hive and read the note.

Without a mentor, I wanted to learn and at get a good idea of the basics. I studied videos a bit before actually getting my first bees as well as joining here; reading, watching, listening, while learning seemed to be a good way to do this. A couple videos were of older beekeepers using bricks for an information code, which worked well for these experienced folks.  Spring 2018 was red queen color. Instead of bricks, I decided that I would simply use a queen marking pen for keeping my notes and the most handy place to do so was the white tops of my new hives. That has been my method from the start until now. Works good for me. When I place a new note on a top which has a previous note, I simply place an x on the old note. That way I can still easily read the old note as well as the new note for quick reference. I now favor blue for my notes, though both colors are thorough. 

[Michael Bush]

[attachment=0][/attachment]I use pushpins in a calendar:

[Beeboy01]

I start the season all ready to go with my note book and mark down the strength, hive size and if it needs requeening or splitting. By about half way through the season I'm catching swarms and swapping brood frames back and forth to keep the weaker hives up to par. By then I'm luck to keep track of most of the manipulations I've done but I still keep track of the number of deeps and shallows on the hives. If I checked my note book today it would show my last entry was about a month ago when I supered up for the cabbage palm and filled out a page covering the mid to end of the summer plan. Checking back in my note book I've been recording hive info this way for about 15 years so I guess it's working for me. In other words I start with a lot of information then slowly drop down to an occasional entry unless something important has happened.  I do keep a page that covers yearly expenses like queens, wooden ware, honey bottles and honey production