Calendar & Observations
Date / Category / Description / Weather / ImageThis Template is being provided for personal use as is or modified as you see fit. Created in Microsoft Word, it can be imported into other programs like Google Docs.I utilize this form as an ongoing journal to track the history of local Weather conditions, plants in bloom, honey harvested, management practices and other items which I feel will help me improve my beekeeping practices in the future including the production of locally adapted Queen bees and nucs (nucleus colonies). Listed below is a portion of my actual journal to give you a flavor of the notes I keep. In actuality, I have a running diary going back about 10 years which I refer to very frequently.
Feel free to delete my notes and insert additional lines by highlighting a line, then right clicking on it to delete or insert a new line. Generally I copy an existing line (either "Management" or "Observed") to create a new line with the same formatting. Then I delete the duplicate text and type my new notes. Good Luck!
2016.04.21 / Management / Grafted 1st round of Queens from Hives 3,7,12,17. Eggs in a few Swarm Queen cups. / 78°/ 41°
2016.04.21 / Observed / Dandelions starting to bloom in Syracuse and Manlius. / low-70°s / high 30°s
2016.04.16&17 / Observed / Weather finally warmed up. Warm weekend in the 60°s / Mid-60°s / low 40°s
2016.04.05 / Observed / First two weeks of April as much as 20°below average (including record low of 9° on 4/5/2016). / Mid-50°s / low30°s
2016.03.30 / Observed / March was on average 10°above average. Maple trees blooming. / 60°s / 30°s
2016.03.27 / Observed / Warmer than historic average. Bees still bringing in pollen. Reported that lots of bees in the corn bins at the farm on warm days (enough to keep the calves from feeding)! Fruit tree buds in Syracuse swollen. Turning colder, below average next couple of weeks. / Mid-50°s / low30°s
2016.03.27 / Management / Unwrapped all hives on Jerome. Dealt with 4 hives. Marked 3 last year queens, couldn't find the other. Gave frames of pollen to 2 weak hives. / 64°/ 29°
2016.03.12 / Management / Unwrapped all 3 hives at Rd#2 yard. Bees already bringing in light tan pollen.More than a super of honey left on each hive. Saw all queens marked in blue (last year's color). Reversed boxes. Leveled hive stands. / 59°/ 28°
2016.02.28 / Observed / Warm day. High 55° and sunny. Very little snow remaining. Past week was about 5° warmer than average.Overall January & February were on par with historic averages. / 55° / 38°
2016.02.20 / Management / Checked all hives due to warm weather. Hive#6 dead from Laying Worker. All hives actively consuming sugar with about 1/2 box gone on average (about 7lb) / 52°/ 36°
2016.02.20 / Observed / Warm day. High 47° and sunny. / Mid 30's°/low teens
2016.02.16 / Observed / Rebound in temperatures from low two days ago. Heavy rain. / 43°/24°
2016.02.14 / Observed / Record COLDlasting less than 2 days.Early morning low of minus -21°F in Manlius, -23°F Fabius. Warms back up to low 40°s w chance of rain two days from now. / 8°/-22°
2016.01.31 / Management / Checked all hives due to warm weather. All hives actively flying. Confirmed that Hive1 is dead. Must have swarmed earlier as few dead bees and signs of a laying worker. / 54°/ 34°
2016.01.31 / Observed / Warm winter continues. About 10° above average. early Winter. / high 30°s/ low 20°s
2016.01.12 / Management / Added an extra bungee cord (3 ea) on each hive just before significant snow. Hive1 dead. / 61°/ 47°
2015.12.25 / Observed / Record Warm early Winter. Christmas in the low 50's / Low 60°s/ low 40°s
2015.12.12&13 / Management / Wrapped all hives except Hive3 since it doesn't have a sugar box yet. / 61°/ 47°
2015.12.06 / Management / Put sugar boxes on all hives except Hive3 since I am one short. / 49°/ 27°
2015.10.18 / Observed / First FROST / FREEZE of season. Long, productive Autumn. / 45°/24°
2015.10.04 / Management / Combined queenless nuc NM-1 into Hive? on Rd#2. Combined queenless HiveL into HiveT & HiveU. / 75°/ 40°
2015.09.26 / Management / Harvested more honey at Rd #2. / 72°/ 51°
2015.09.26 / Observed / Rare occurrences of Chicory and spotted knapweed blooming this late in season along Rte 92. 10% Goldenrod remaining. / Mid 70°s/low 50°s
2015.09.1920 / Management / Harvesting & Extracting honey. Still have capped Goldenrod on hives. / 83°/ 61°
2015.09.15 / Observed / Goldenrod about 80% dead. / Mid 80°s/ mid 60°s
2015.09.13 / Management / Started Extracting honey / 64°/ 54°
2015.09.10 / Observed / Goldenrod past peak. About 30% dead. Tall purple Aster blooming. / Low 90°s/high 60°s
2015.09.07 / Management / Inspected hives on Jerome Rd. / 93°/ 69°
2015.08.30 / Observed / Goldenrod in full bloom and bees beginning to work it (Goldenrod odor around hives). Still just before peak even though earliest blooms dying. Mostly dry. / Mid 70°s/ mid 50°
2015.08.30 / Management / Added 5 supers to hives. Harvested only 3 full frames. Lots of supers mostly full. / 80°/ 64°
2015.08.22 / Observed / Goldenrod ~ 75% in bloom in Fabius and Manlius. Bees starting to work Goldenrod based on hive smell. / Mid 80°s/ mid 60°
2015.08.22 / Management / Swapped out 6 boxes. Caught very large SWARM on Xmas Tree near hives on Rte91. Came back 2 hrs later with frame of brood and they were GONE! / High 77°/60°
2015.08.16 / Management / Built 9 new supers and swapped out 6. Harvested ~100# summer honey. / High 87°/65°
2015.08.02 / Management / Added all remaining honey supers. Swapped out three med boxes needing repainting. / 84°/60°
2015.08.02 / Observed / Goldenrod just starting to bloom in some spots in Manlius & even Fabius / 80°s/60°
2015.07.19 / Observed / Spotted knapweed in full bloom / mid 80s°/high 60s°
2015.07.18 / Management / Really HOT and humid. Many hives have Swarmed at Jerome Rd. When opening queen cells in Hive4 about 5 queens ran out fully mature. / 86°/64°
2015.07.05 / Management / Swapped out repainted equipment. Made 2 splits from Hive1 which had closed & open swarm cells (HiveT & HiveU) / High 80°/60°
2015.07.05 / Observed / Spotted knapweed starting to bloom in Manlius & Fabius / High 80°/60°
2015.06.30 / Observed / June was a very rainy month.
2015.06.26 / Management / Inspected other hives on Rd #2
2015.06.20 / Management / Inspected some hives on Rte 91 & Rd #2 / 81°/ 49°
2015.06.18 / Observed / Stag Horn Sumac blooming in Manlius. Lots of rain. / High 70°s/50°s
2015.06.11 / Management / Packaged up 4 nucs. / 77°/59°
2015.06.10 / Observed / Locust trees bloom cut short by 3 days of rain. / High 70°s/low 50°s
2015.06.06 / Observed / Locust trees blooming in Fabius. / Low 70°s/high 40°s
2015.06.06&07 / Management / First Nuc pickup weekend. / 68°/47°
2015.06.03 / Observed / Rained for three days straight (Sun 5/31 - Tues 6/2). First sweet clover blooms along HighBridge in Manlius. / Low 60°s/high 40°s
2015.05.30 / Management / Marked queens in nucs. 24 out of 29 nucs successful with laying queens. / 87°/67°
2015.05.25 / Observed / Locust trees in full bloom in Manlius. Not blooming yet in Fabius.
2015.05.09 / Observed / Dandelions in full bloom in Fabius. Apple trees starting to bloom. Still hasn't rained. / 84°/59°
2015.05.07 / Management / Started Queens:Created from Hive5, Hive7 and Hive12. / 78°/45°
2015.05.05 / Observed / Cherry Trees in full bloom Manlius and Lafayette. No rain still. Had some days in 80°s. / Mid 70°s/low 50s°
2015.05.02 / Observed / Dandelions starting to bloom in Manlius.. Sunny, warm. Drier than usual. Cherry trees in full bloom in Syracuse. / 72°/low 40s°
2015.04.19 / Observed / Bees bringing in yellow pollen. / 62°/42s°
2015.04.18&19 / Management / Unwrapped Remaining 8 hives on Jerome Rd. All hives have eggs/larvae except Hive9 which is very aggressive. / 67°/37°
2015.04.13 / Observed / Weather suddenly turned last couple of days. low 60s° yesterday and 80° today. / 60°s/nightmid30°s
2015.04.12 / Management / Unwrapped Hive1 & HiveW at Rd#2: bees starting to bring in maple pollen (white) and some nectar. Young larvae so queens only laying for about 1 week.
Unwrapped HiveZ at Rte #91 and HiveU at Jerome hayfield. Some eggs but no larvae yet, so queens only laying last couple of days. Patches of snow remain. / 67°/37°
2015.03.13 / Observed / Weather broke: 3/9 - 3/13 Fabius high temperatures in 40s all week, night lows in 20s. / 40s°/nights 20s°
2015.02.22 / Management / Checked hives at #2 Rd and Rte 91 Christmas farm. 3 of 4 alive at #2. / 25°/-4°
2015.02.20 / Observed / Bitter Cold 2/13 - 2/20. Fabius lows in minus teens. Only 2 days above 20°F / 10s°/nights -10s°
2014.11.22&23 / Management / Put sugar boxes on hives and wrapped hives with roofing felt. / 50°/42°
2014.11.21 / Observed / Record cold for most of week. High in low 30s° / lows in low 20s°. / 50s°/nights 30s°
2014.11.16 / Management / Made up sugar boxes with cement mixer. Did not put on hives yet.
2014.11.01 / Observed / All flowers dead / 50s°/nights 30s°
2014.10.08 / Observed / Low Temp 33° F / 60s°/nights 40s
2014.09.28 / Observed / 80% Goldenrod dead in Fabius. Bees actively working both remaining Goldenrod and lots of purple Aster. Very warm dry weeks / 70's°/night 50's
2014.09.07 / Observed / Summer weather. Japanese Knotweed blooming everywhere. Goldenrod past peak in Syracuse, just peaked in Manlius, at peak in Fabius. / 80's°/night 60's
2014.09.07 / Management / Rd #2 Farm has lots of Small Hive Beetle adults in all hives. No larvae. Bees finally putting on weight, even small 2-box hives. Bees working Goldenrold. / 80's°/night 60's
2014.08.30 / Observed / Goldenrod blooming. 80% Syracuse, 50% Manlius, 40% Fabius. Knapweed 80% dead. Bees working goldenrod in Fabius. / Mostly dry
mid 70's / night 50's
2014.08.24 / Observed / Goldenrod blooming. 40% Syracuse, 30% Manlius, 20% Fabius. Knapweed 80% dead. / Cool. wet
mid 70's / night 60's
2014.08.12 / Observed / Goldenrod starting to bloom everywhere (5% blooming). Knapweed 70% dead. / Cool. wet
Low 70's / night 50's
2014.08.08 / Observed / Goldenrod blooming along Rd #2. Purple Loosestrife still in full bloom. / Low 80's / night low 60's