Naming of colonies/hives

Jessaboo · May 03, 2008, 10:41:37 AM

Just out of pure curiosity - do you name your hives?

If so, what have you named them and how did you pick the name?

JP · May 03, 2008, 10:43:57 AM

Quote from: Jessaboo on May 03, 2008, 10:41:37 AM
Just out of pure curiosity - do you name your hives?

If so, what have you named them and how did you pick the name?

I thought about naming them all George, but that would just be too confusing, so I didn't. ;)

...JP

bassman1977 · May 03, 2008, 10:48:19 AM

Mine are numbered 1 through 9 and the TBH is TBH1.

Kathyp · May 03, 2008, 10:58:21 AM

naming my hives would be like naming the calf that i know is going in the freezer next year. :evil: well, almost.... i don't plan on killing the hive, but they do die sometimes.

i number the hives, just as i number the freezer pets.

Cindi · May 03, 2008, 11:31:25 AM

Jessaboo. Absolutely....I don't call them a name, but they have a designation. I had 4 package colonies and 4 nucs colonies that I got last year. They were called P1 through P4 and N1 through N4. That way, when I am keeping records or speaking of these colonies, they know exactly what is meant. My old colony was called nothing.....I forgot to paint OC for old colony on the front of the box, but it still had a yellow rectangle on the front, so I described it as the colony with the yellow rectangle when I spoke about it, hee, hee. I think that numbering/naming colonies is a good thing in my own opinion. Have the best of a most wonderfully great day, Cindi

randydrivesabus · May 03, 2008, 11:42:06 AM

i was going to number mine but when i went looking for the stick on numbers i bought years ago to put my number on my mailbox i couldn't find them. still looking.

Michael Bush · May 03, 2008, 12:19:24 PM

I couldn't remember all those names...

MrILoveTheAnts · May 03, 2008, 12:28:58 PM

I name mine based on the color of th lowest box. So I have a Black, White, and Pink hive.

bassman1977 · May 03, 2008, 03:33:44 PM

The only reason I number my hives is so that I have a reference for my logs. Otherwise, I could care less what they were called.

misfyredOhio · May 03, 2008, 04:56:43 PM

I named mine "the Italians" and "the Russians." :)

poka-bee · May 03, 2008, 05:15:37 PM

Mine are the G-Team & B-Team for the color of hives. Hopreully in the future I'll have a rainbow! :) Jody

KONASDAD · May 03, 2008, 05:46:11 PM

At first, yes. Queen Lilikalani, Ester, Mary etc. Now I have added towns for swarms. Like Collingswood, Morrestown, placxes the swarm came from. Just today, i decided i needed to start a log so I can take notes about queens for breeding in the future.

BeeHopper · May 03, 2008, 06:12:20 PM

Right now, my hives are labeled 1 thru 10, Nucs 1 thru 3. :-D

If I were a little eccentric, I'd paint the names of famous and not so famous night clubs or Bars I visited in my life like " Whiskey A Go Go ", " The Stone Pony " , " Hard Rock Cafe ", " London Ale House ".
:-D

Kimbrell · May 03, 2008, 07:39:46 PM

The names of my hives are useful to me, but not very interesting or unusual: upper hive, lower hive, Italian hive, English hive, new hive,etc.

qa33010 · May 04, 2008, 12:20:59 AM

Yes but not as a letter or number. Just a combo like a swarm this year is SW08A, for last years Russians I bought is R08C, if a split this year it will bee SP08A, ferals that are me first hive is F05A. If I get a swarm from one of my hives I don't use the feral designation.

Unofficially, named after the kids for their personal hives and that is the one they help me with when I go out. Includes inspection, evaluations, manipulations, honey harvest..ect. No honey is mixed with honey from another hive, that is his or her own honey from their own bees, unless there is not enough left over to fill a jar, . That one is family honey and the first to go.

annette · May 04, 2008, 12:23:00 AM

Just old hive and new hive.

heaflaw · May 04, 2008, 01:21:24 AM

I number by the location of each hive so I can refer back to my logs and list what needs to be done in each. (barn 1 thru 5, etc)

beekeeperookie · May 04, 2008, 07:02:24 AM

I use names to keep track of my hives. I just pick a common womans name from the 1920s. :-D

Keith13 · May 04, 2008, 07:38:27 PM

Yes I name mine I guess. The names sort of come from where the bees came from, I had one hive I received from JP so those bees became JP hive. I had a hive that wouldnâ€™t stop stinging my LSU hat my father said those bees must be from USC, so that hive became the USC bees. I have a hive I cut out of a bird house so of course they became the birdhouse bees. Then I have another hive of Russians and of course they are the Russians

indypartridge · May 05, 2008, 07:32:45 AM

First colony was Beezus. My wife's dear old Aunt Sue (Newberry) was so excited about me keeping bees she gave me some money to "make homes for more bees". So the next two colonies were named Sue-bee and New-bee in her honor. Her favorite cartoon was Scooby-Do,
so Scoo-bee and Doo-bee followed.