Apiaries
An apiary is a place where you keep bees: your garden, an allotment, a rooftop, a rented field, a stand at the edge of a forest. In Openbeehive the apiary is the top of your records; everything else hangs beneath it.
Apiary -> Hive -> Queen
Each apiary holds one or more hives, each hive has its current (and past) queens, and visits, harvests and treatments attach to a hive within an apiary.
Why apiaries matter
- Context for your work. When you arrive at a yard, open that apiary and see only the hives in front of you.
- Finding the place again. Coordinates and an address let you locate a remote stand and plan a round of visits.
- Batch printing. QR labels print per apiary, one label per hive.
Keep one apiary per physical location. It keeps visits, harvests and treatments grouped where you actually do the work.
Creating an apiary
From the Apiaries list (or the + New button on the Overview) choose New apiary. Only a name is required.
| Field | Required | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes | A short label, e.g. "Home garden" or "Orchard stand". |
| Address | No | Free text to help you find the place. |
| Note | No | Gate codes, access notes, the landowner's name, parking. |
| Latitude / Longitude | No | Coordinates in decimal degrees. |
Works offline; see Offline and sync.
Setting GPS coordinates
Type latitude and longitude by hand, or tap Use my location to fill them from your device's GPS. Your browser asks for permission the first time.
Coordinates are decimal degrees, for example latitude 52.5200 and longitude 13.4050. Negative values are valid: south of the equator for latitude, west of Greenwich for longitude.
"Use my location" captures where you are standing. If you set up a remote yard from home, type the coordinates in, or correct them on your next visit.
The map and address lookup
The apiary form includes a map with a draggable pin. Type an address and the pin moves to match; drag the pin (or tap the map) and the address field is filled from the position, falling back to plain coordinates when no address is known for that spot.
A status line under the map reports what the lookup is doing:
- Looking up the address…: the search is running.
- Location set: the position was found and written into the form.
- No match for this address: drop the pin on the map instead.
- Address search is unavailable: the lookup service cannot be reached (you may be offline). The pin and manual coordinates keep working.
Adding and viewing hives
Open an apiary to see its hives with the date of each one's last inspection. From here you can:
- Add hive: type a name and add it. Set its type and status afterwards by editing the hive.
- Open a hive to see its queen, visit log, harvests and treatments.
Printing QR labels for the apiary
The QR labels button on the apiary page prints an A4 sheet with one label per hive in the apiary. Each label encodes a deep link to that hive; scanning it opens Openbeehive at the hive. See QR labels.
Editing and reorganising
Rename an apiary, or update its address, note and coordinates, with Edit apiary. If two people edit the same apiary, the most recent change to each field wins.
If a hive moves to a different location, use Move on the hive to reassign it to the matching apiary. Migratory beekeepers can keep an apiary per site and move hives as they travel.
Sharing
Apiaries are not shared individually. Everything in a tenant is visible to every member of that tenant, so to work on an apiary with someone, invite them to the tenant that holds it (Settings → Tenants → Invite a beekeeper). To keep your home colonies private while collaborating on a club yard, create a separate tenant for the club. See Accounts & tenants.