Tracking Cells from Breeders
Phase 1: Setup in the Manager’s Portal
Before heading to the yard, you need to categorize your breeders so the data has a place to live.
Tag your breeders: Ensure every breeder colony has a physical Nectar tag.
Create Practices: In the Operations tab, add each breeder hive as a "Practice" under the Queen Management category.
Naming Convention: We recommend using the format
TagNumber_Year.Example: 01234567_2026
Note: If you have 10 breeders, you should see 10 distinct practices in your list. You can also use custom names (e.g.,
RedBreeder4_2026).
Phase 2: In the Field (Mobile App)
When it’s time to move cells, follow these steps to ensure the data is linked correctly:
Step 1: Note the Source. When pulling cells from a breeder, record the tag number of that specific colony.
Step 2: Apply the Practice. When placing cells into new colonies:
Open a Hive Inspection (or a Yard Inspection if the whole yard is getting cells from the same breeder).
Select the Practice that matches the source breeder’s tag number.
Change the Hive Status to Introduced.
Phase 3: Following Up
Once you check for mating success, update the status to close the loop on your performance metrics:
Result | Action in Nectar |
Success | Set Hive Status to Queenright. |
Failure | Set Hive Status to Queenless. |
Retrying | Repeat the "In the Field" steps to add a new cell. |
Giving Up | Scan the hive as a Deadout. |
Pro-Tips for Workers
Accuracy in the field is key to good data. Ensure you are selecting the specific breeder practice that matches the cell’s origin, otherwise, the performance metrics will be skewed.
For worker instructions in English and Spanish, Click here.
Evaluating Cells from Breeders
Once you begin collecting data, head over to the Managers Portal and navigate to the Insights tab.
Once there, select the Queen Performance dashboard.
Use the MORTALITY PER QUEEN TYPE insight to see the mortality rate of your breeder cells
Use the ALIVE QUEENS RIGHT NOW insight to see how many queens from different breeders are in your operation
Use the ALIVE QUEENS PER YARD RIGHT NOW to see which yards the queens from different breeders are in
If you also collect additional data, such as Hive Strength, Frames of Bees, Varroa levels, or Honey production, you will be able to use the following insights in the dashboard to measure performance of queens from different breeders:
HIVE STRENGTH PER QUEEN TYPE
AVG FRAMES OF BEES PER QUEEN TYPE
AVG HONEY SUPERS CONTRIBUTED PER QUEEN TYPE
# PER QUEEN TYPE, IMPACTED BY VARROA (3+ mites per 100 bees)
If you want the insights to only include cells from Breeders, follow these steps:
In Insights, create a new dashboard
Select 'Create Insight
Select 'Pick from Gallery'
Navigate to the Queen Tab
Find the Insight you would like, and select 'Add to dashboard'
Back on the dashboard, click the three dots in the top right corner of the insight, and hit 'edit'
In the Left panel, hit 'Add Filter'
Under Property, select 'Queen'
In the 'One of these Values' Field, select the breeder lines.
Hit Save