Monitoring your honey yield is essential for understanding yard productivity and colony health. By tracking production data in the field and analyzing it in the Manager’s Portal, you can transform simple observations into powerful management decisions.
Recording Data in the Field
Depending on your workflow, you can track production at either the Yard level or the Hive level.
Yard-Level Tracking: Use the default sliders in the Yard Inspection Form.
Supers Harvested: Use this to record the total number of supers removed from the yard during a harvest event.
Supers in Yard: Use this to record the total number of honey supers currently placed across all hives in the yard.
Hive-Level Tracking: Use the Honey Supers category in the Hive Inspection Form.
Use this slider to record either the number of honey supers currently on each specific hive or the number of supers harvested from that hive.
Pro Tip: Consistency is key. Decide whether your team will track "supers on" or "supers harvested" at the hive level and stick to that method throughout the season to keep your data clean.
Analyzing Data in the Manager’s Portal
Once your data is synced, navigate to the Insights tab and select the Honey Dashboard to view key performance metrics such as:
Total Honey Supers Harvested: Provides a high-level view of your total seasonal production.
Average Honey Supers Contributed per Hive per Yard: Helps you identify which yards are outperforming others on a per-colony basis.
Honey Supers per Yard: Shows a breakdown of inventory and production distributed by location.
Advanced Insights & Cross-Referencing
The true value of honey tracking lies in seeing how your management actions impact your bottom line.
Correlate Management Inputs: Cross-reference honey data with inputs like Queens, Splits, and Supplements to see how they affect your operation. For example, you can see if a specific queen breeder or splitting schedule results in higher honey yields.
Custom Whiteboard: Use the Whiteboard to see at a glance how many supers are currently in each yard or the total number of supers that have come from a specific location to date.
Strategic Yard Management
Once you are consistently using the Supers Harvested category, you can turn your data into a logistical tool via the Yard Map:
Map Filters: Filter your yard map based on the Last Supers Harvested or Supers in Yard date.
Targeted Operations: Quickly identify which yards are overdue for a pull or which locations need more supers added or removed.
