Here’s a tip for other hobby beekeepers. Get a big white board and put each of your hives on it. Then add columns for all the things important to you, including the next time you need to take action on each hive.
This is invaluable to me. I typically keep 15-20 colonies. I track the current status of each hive, what I need to do next, how many honey supers I’ve got on each, and my last mite counts. I also keep a lot of detailed info in spreadsheets and a journal, but this is my go-to for prepping my weekly inspections.
Do you have your hives spread out geographically?
I know a man who has 35 hives spread out all over the state on different people’s properties.
I used to have them split between two bee yards, but they’re all in one place now. Which is way easier. That’s why 20 hives is kinda my upper limit… helps ensure there’s plenty of forage.
