Hives
A hive in Openbeehive is a single colony in a physical box. Almost everything you log day to day (visits, harvests, treatments) hangs off a hive. Each hive belongs to one apiary at a time and can have a queen. Works offline; see Offline and sync.
Creating a hive
Open an apiary, type a name under Add hive and add it (the Hives list has the same form with an apiary picker). A new hive starts with status Active and no type. Open the hive and tap the Edit (pencil) action to set:
| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| Name | A number, a colour, a nickname. |
| Type | The frame and box standard; see below. |
| Status | The state of the colony; see below. |
A photo is added from the hive page by tapping the picture placeholder next to the name (Remove photo takes it away again).
Keep names short and consistent across an apiary, for example "1", "2", "3". Short names print clearly on QR labels and are quick to read in the field.
Hive types
| Type | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Zander | Widespread in parts of Germany and central Europe. |
| Dadant | Popular for honey production, large brood box. |
| Deutsch Normal | A traditional German standard. |
| Langstroth | The most common standard worldwide. |
| Warré | A vertical, low-intervention design. |
| Top-bar | Horizontal, frameless bars. |
| Other | Anything not listed above. |
For a fuller description of each standard, see Hive types.
Status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | A queenright colony in normal use. |
| Nucleus | A small starter colony (a "nuc"), often a split or a mating unit. |
| Queenless | The colony has lost its queen and needs attention. |
| Lost | The colony has died out or absconded. |
| Dissolved | You have united or broken up the colony. |
Status is a label you set by editing the hive; nothing changes it automatically. Setting a hive to Lost or Dissolved keeps its whole record.
Moving a hive between apiaries
To relocate a hive, open it, tap the Move action and pick the destination apiary. The hive keeps its name, queen, photo and full record; only its apiary changes.
Location history
Every move is recorded as a dated entry under Location history at the bottom of the hive page, so you know where a colony was at any point in time. Useful for tracing disease exposure and for migratory records.
In many regions, moving hives between locations is subject to bee health and movement rules, especially within disease control zones. Check your national or local requirements before relocating colonies. See Diseases and pests.
The hive page
Opening a hive gives you one screen with everything about that colony.
Header and actions
The header shows the photo, the name, and the status and type. The action icons next to it:
- Stock card: a printable table of every visit (with a Print button).
- Development: charts of the readings recorded on visits (occupied frames, brood frames, food stores, swarm cells, gentleness, calmness, varroa, hive weight, feed, youngest larva, temperature and humidity) plus honey harvests over time.
- Edit hive, Move, QR (shows the hive's label with Print and SVG buttons; see QR labels) and Delete.
Latest readings
Below the header, pills show the non-zero numbers from the most recent visit: occupied frames, brood frames, swarm cells, hive weight and varroa. Tapping a pill opens the matching chart in Development.
Queen
The Current queen card shows her year, number, marking colour, origin and comment, with Replace queen (or Set queen if none is recorded). Queen history lists earlier queens with their introduced and replaced dates. See Queens.
Visit log
Record visit opens the visit form. Below it the five most recent visits are listed newest first, each as a date, the weather, chips summarising what you recorded (queen seen, frames, stores, swarm cells, temperament, feed, weight, honey, temperature, humidity, varroa), the note and any photos. See all N visits opens the full log. See Inspections.
Honey and Treatments
Honey shows the hive's harvest total in its heading and lists each harvest (Record harvest). Treatments lists each treatment (Record treatment). See Harvests and Treatments.
Deleting versus retiring a hive
Change a hive's status rather than deleting it. Setting a colony to Lost or Dissolved keeps its history for year-on-year comparison and traceability. Delete a hive only when it was created by mistake; the app asks for confirmation.