The successful keeping of bee colonies is one of the most beautiful things that a home garden can offer. Beginners, but also experienced beekeepers, should always keep an eye on their bees - ideally with our hive chart.
Stock card for beekeepers
It doesn't matter whether you're a hobby beekeeper or a professional - if you want to keep an eye on your bee colony, not only a bee-friendly garden is important for you. A stock card is also indispensable. In this way, everything that has been discovered or carried out on the bees can be documented. For a simple and orderly overview, you can download the template for a stock card as a PDF here.
Here you can download the stock card for free:
Head of the stick card
The following data is initially recorded in the header of the Plantopedia stock card:
- the current year
- the location of the people,
- the number or more precise designation of the bee colony and
- the age of the queen.
The location can of course be omitted if all bees are in the same place. The old the beekeeper recognizes the queen by the color of the marker (a 2022 queen was marked in green). If available, the number of the queen can also be noted (e.g. "green 1").
spring assessment
Larger interventions in the colony can still be avoided in March, but the beekeeper should definitely take advantage of the first nicer days (temperatures above 12 °C and sunshine). Enter here how your people are positioned.
- Did the queen survive the winter?
- How strong is the people? - Count the occupied honeycomb aisles.
- Can you identify brood in all stages (pen, larvae and capped cells)?
- Be sure to check whether the colony still has enough food reserves, a cold snap can still occur.
tip: Find brood in all stages and enough food, finish the inspection quickly. Where there is brood, there is definitely a queen!
Beekeepers in the bee year
If the temperatures are stable from the middle/end of April, work with the bees and the Plantopedia hive card can really begin. For the documentation of the current year it is necessary to record every work on the colony. Enter the date and the work carried out under Remarks.
These entries should include, for example:
- Removal and addition of comb and bees
- Implementation of treatment against varroasis
- disease symptoms (danger: If you suspect the vicious American foulbrood (AFB), inform your responsible veterinary office immediately!)
- Queen seen/Queenlessness
- ruptured swarm cells
Write down everything that seems unusual or new to you or that you think is particularly important.
When it comes to the winter supply of your colony, it is best to weigh it with a luggage scale. Enter the calculated amount of feed (taking into account the weight of bees and hive materials) in the column provided.
Easy colony propagation
As a beekeeper, you should always bring in your best colonies. With our evaluation system, you collect data on your bees over the entire bee year in order to be able to select the best ones for reproduction next year. These parameters are entered in the middle of the table in the form of numbers. At the end of the year, you form the mean of the individual categories strength, swarm instinct, honeycomb seat and temperament. A legend can be found directly below the table. Conduct the assessment regularly, at least four times per year by:
- Immediately after wintering
- During a mass harvest (e.g. rapeseed blossom)
- In the period between Varroa treatment and feeding for the winter
- In October, when the bees are already fed
tip: As a quick indicator of the people's temperament, you can perform the following test. Open the colony and tap the top bars of the frames in the box with your fingers. Particularly gentle races only hum briefly, but never fly towards you.
Varroa in sight
In the lower part of the stock card, you should regularly use the death the Varroa mites document. It is important to actively monitor the size of the mite population so that you can react appropriately at the right time. If you have symptoms of a Varroa damage such as crippled wings, shortened abdomens or severely shaking bees (paralysis virus), act as quickly as possible. Then enter how you treat your bees in the table above.
Best honey quality
As a beekeeper, you are responsible for producing and marketing natural and high-quality food. One of the most important quality criteria for German honey is the water content. A week before the honey harvest, measure the water content in several places in the honey chamber with a refractometer.
In any case, the Honey Ordinance (HonigV) is binding for you as a beekeeper. This generally sets a maximum water content of 20%, for heather honey 23% is the upper limit. The German Beekeepers Association DIB sees it a little more strictly (general: 18%, heather honey: 21.4%). If the entire honey of the colonies is within the limit values, form the mean value from the individual measurements and enter it in the bottom part of the stock card. The amount of honey harvested is also recorded here and can be used as a criterion for propagation.
evaluate findings
Reuse the stick card every year and collect the results to your peoples. Not only can you improve your beekeeping skills over the years, but you can also assess:
- Do races improve by picking the best?
- How is the local costume offering changing?
- How is the overall apiary developing?