Many beekeepers have a tough time recording all that goes on in an apiary and in their beehives. A lack of Record keeping often is the cause of fuzzy thinking about management and works against the beekeeper. A number of beekeeping applications are now available for smartphones. specifically designed to help beekeepers keep track of this data. They fall into several categories. Most are involved in locating beehives and cataloging specific information about colonies:
Apiary Book allows recording on mobile phone of information on the number, health and maintenance of each bees family, treatments carried out, and other operations in the field of beekeeping. Using a friendly interface, a beekeeper can define several apiaries (hearths), can add work to be performed, harvests (honey, wax), colonies movements, veterinary controls and others! App
Hive Tracks is perhaps the most well-known and publicized program. It is cloud-based software and features data analytics products focused on honey bee health, beekeeping optimization, and the honey bee’s direct connection to global food production. App
Hive Keepers records apiaries with google maps integration. Record apiaries with google maps integration. Inspect at four levels, apiary, hive, super, frame. App
Beenotes is the first and only voice-controlled apiculture application. One simply speaks and the application easily and reliably records all the necessary data that will enable you to comfortably manage, organize and increase the performance of your apiary. App . Unfortunately, this URL no longer works.
The BeeAlert application is the first online platform for the disappearance of registration or death of bees by geolocation. With the application, beekeepers, beekeepers and the scientific community can record and document the occurrences worldwide, indicando o local, intensity and possible causes (pesticides, diseases, pests, drove, etc). The collaboratively generated information contributes to the study of this phenomenon, and represents a major contribution to the protection of effort to bees. The data are confidential and will be used for scientific purposes. Report is to protect. Join now from your mobile phone, tablet or desktop and notify their occurrence. App
Bee Plus stores apiary and hive information in one place. It easily logs detailed inspection data & honey production on the move. Data and photos can be synchronized for backup or sharing. This is a Facebook application it seems, which might be out of date. Last post December 2017. App
Bee Tight replaces the paper or spreadsheet-based records that most beekeepers seem to use, so its first job is to handle records of inspections. It records laying pattern and temperament on a six-point scale. App
The B App is created by commercial beekeepers, and with the input of beekeepers around the world. It has wide range of uses for managing honey bee colonies. The B App has become a universal necessity to any operation. App.
Find Hive is a GPS Beehive tracking device for locating and recovering beehives. App
Two applications deal with pesticide poisoning. The Bee Safe Oregon State University application is rooted in the publication How to Reduce Bee Poisoning first produced in 2006. It was expanded in 2013 by coauthor Louisa Hooven, a toxicologist and bee expert in the College of Agricultural Sciences, with an extensive update of the pesticide information. Products are sorted into three classes: highly toxic, toxic and “no bee precautionary statement on label.” The ratings are based on the cautions and restrictions required by the Environmental Protection Agency and listed on the product labels. App
Bee Connect is a Canadian application that enables two-way communication on the location of hives and crop protection between registered farmers and contractors. Contractors and farmers are able to input information on their crop protection activities that may be of interest to a beekeeper, and beekeepers are able to notify nearby farmers of the location of their hives. This opens up a line of communication through an internal messaging system. App
An Alberta Canada application is based on current scientific knowledge of honey bee diseases and pests. It is a handy resource to help beekeepers and other users to detect, diagnose, manage and treat honey bee diseases and pests. It includes pictures and treatment options which will aid beekeepers in adopting appropriate pest management practices. Thus, beekeepers can improve bee health and enhance on-farm food safety and biosecurity practices in their operations. App
HiveScience is a citizen science project for beekeepers. Using the HiveScience mobile phone-based app, beekeepers can submit hive health reports, Varroa mite counts, and request kits to send honey samples to EPA. This data may allow us to track hive health through analysis of honey samples and also track Varroa mite infestations across regions in real-time. It will also provide information about the real-world effectiveness of the miticides registered by EPA. App
OsBeehives is on a mission to technify the beekeeping industry by building a global network of beekeepers and identifying causes and solutions for colony health deterioration. This mission is founded on the principles of citizen science, open data, and collaboration between beekeepers. App
The Bee Smart Pollinator Gardener has an easy user interface that browses through a database of nearly 1,000 native plants. Filter your plants by what pollinators you want to attract, light and soil requirements, bloom color, and plant type. This is an excellent plant reference to attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, bats, and other pollinators to the garden, farm, school and every landscape. App.
Beescanning. This app scans for Varroa via a smartphone camera. Users are urged to first look at the user manual. Unlike most other apps, this appears to have no free option. App.
The latest smartphone app is called beehealth guru, developed by Jerry Bromenshenk and crew at Bee Alert Technology, Missoula, MT. It is not a hive locator like the majority of the apps above, but something that looks at determining the totality of honey bee health in the hive. A kickstarter program has been launched to get enough funding to go global with this program for the month of May 2019. Every beekeeper should check it out. App.
Those currently using any of the above or other applications are encouraged to relay their experiences here. Let me know if there are missing apps from this list. Malcolm T. Sanford
