Keeping the Colony Register
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Under German veterinary medicines law, bees count as food-producing animals.
Under German veterinary medicines law, bees count as food-producing animals. Anyone treating them must record it. This applies to all medicinal products used in beekeeping, explicitly including the ones available without prescription: formic acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid, and thymol. Powdered sugar used to measure infestation does not fall under this, as it counts as a feedstuff.
What must be entered is the number, kind, and identity of the treated animals and, where needed for identification, their location, the name of the agent used, its batch number, the amount administered, the date of application, the withdrawal period in days, and the name of the person who applied it, and under EU law also the supplier, the proof of purchase, and the duration of treatment. The records, together with purchase and supply receipts, must be kept for at least five years from their creation.
No particular format is prescribed; paper and electronic record-keeping are equally valid, but entries must be made in chronological order and without delay. There is no lower threshold based on the size of the operation, and no distinction is made between hobby and commercial beekeeping; all that matters is that bees count as animals used for food production. It is checked by the veterinary office and the food safety authority. The hive record card is something different: a voluntary working aid that replaces the colony register only if it contains all mandatory information.