Beekeeping software for associations and commercial beekeepers: what it must be able to do

Part 1: Beekeeping association

In an association many people with different levels of experience work together. At the teaching apiary, beginners and sponsors look into the same colonies, in training everyone is supposed to take notes, and at the association evening the chairperson wants to show what documentation can look like today. Beekeeping software for an association must therefore above all be able to handle several people, without anyone changing the data of someone else who should not be allowed to.

What associations should look for

• Rights instead of a shared password: Every member needs their own account. Whoever is only meant to watch gets read rights, whoever makes entries at the teaching apiary may edit.
• Inviting without effort: New members should join with a link or an email, not through a form that the board maintains by hand.
• Shares that can be withdrawn: When a course ends or someone leaves the association, access must end with one click.
• Exchange in one place: Questions, dates and photos from the apiary belong in a group that only members can see, if that is what you want.
• Costs for beginners: Someone who has just got their first two colonies should be able to use the software at no cost.
• Privacy: Pay attention to where the data is stored and whether the software discloses its service providers. If, as an association, you have a provider process the personal data of your members, Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires a data processing agreement.

How it works with iBeekeeper

In the Community you create a group with the category “Association”. The visibility determines who can find it: public, closed or private. Founders and moderators create an invitation link that is valid for 90 days and can be withdrawn at any time; anyone who does not yet have an account registers directly on the invitation page.

For shared colonies, for example at the teaching apiary, you create an Organization. Each member gets a role: Administrator, Member or Viewer. You share apiaries, groups of colonies or all your own colonies with individual friends or with the whole organization, for viewing only, for viewing and editing, or for full management. Sharing for viewing also works in the free package; for editing rights you need a booked package.

For up to 5 colonies, iBeekeeper is free for good for every member. For demonstrations, “Load sample data” creates sample colonies with hive cards, feedings, treatments, harvests and storage. Sponsors of an association colony receive a link to their colony, with a password and an expiry date if you wish. Under Friends, “Connect beekeepers” shows your personal QR code; whoever scans it sends you a friend request. Slides and a handout for the association evening are on the page For associations. You can find the data processing agreement under Data processing.

Part 2: Commercial beekeeping

In commercial beekeeping the yield depends on many colonies, often at several apiaries and with migration to the forage. On top of that come records for authorities and customers, sales and bookkeeping. Beekeeping software here must above all save time: what you do on a hundred colonies, you must not have to type in a hundred times.

What commercial beekeepers should look for

• Batch entry: Feeding, treatment and inspection should be recordable for many colonies in one step, for example for all at an apiary.
• Apiaries and migration: When which colony stood where is part of the documentation, for your own analysis as well as for queries from the authorities.
• Records for veterinary medicines: Every treatment must be recorded with the details required under Article 108 of Regulation (EU) 2019/6 and kept available for inspections for at least five years. With many colonies, a medicine record book that is produced by itself from the entries is worthwhile.
• Traceability: Under Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, food business operators must be able to identify from whom they received food and substances that go into their products, and to which businesses they have supplied. A batch number per filling and the link between harvest and jar help with this.
• Storage and sales: Jars, labels, foundation and finished honey must be correct in stock, even after a market day.
• Several people: Employees or family members make entries too. You want to be able to trace who did what and when.
• Honest limits: Beekeeping software replaces neither financial accounting nor tax advice. Clarify which documents your tax adviser needs in which form, and whether the software can export them.

How it works with iBeekeeper

The packages go up to 300 colonies, and the price depends on their number. You create feedings, treatments, hive cards and tasks for several colonies in one step, for all at an apiary if you wish. You enter migrations at the colony, and the Chronicle shows each colony with all entries on one timeline.

Your treatments produce the Medicine record book (Germany) as a PDF, per apiary and year, with a serial number per treatment and annual closing. At harvest you assign a batch number, print the label as a PDF and give your customers the page of the batch via a QR code, with a lab report if you wish. In Storage you manage items in storage locations, with warnings before the best-before date.

At the market stall and in the farm shop you take payments with the Kasse app for iPhone and iPad, with a package; cash also without a network, and the stock in storage is correct afterwards. In Accounting you record income and expenses, write invoices as PDF and attach receipt photos to the entry. With an organization you work together on the same colonies, each person with their own account, and the Activity report shows, with a package, who did what and when.

If you have worked with spreadsheets so far, you import hive cards from CSV, XLS or XLSX files. You export your data at any time as CSV, JSON or ZIP, even without a package.

Checklist before deciding

• Create ten test colonies at an apiary and enter a feeding for all of them in one step.
• Share a colony with a second account for viewing only and check that it cannot change anything.
• Generate the medicine record book for a year and check each column against the required details.
• Assign a batch number at a harvest and follow it through to the label.
• Export all data and ask your tax adviser whether he or she can work with the files.

Related pages

• Beekeeping app iBeekeeper
• Beekeeping software at a glance
• For associations
• Prices and packages
• Beekeeping app: what to look for