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Hive Management

Hives are the core of Bifolk. This guide covers creating, managing, and organizing your beehives.

Target Audience: Beekeepers managing hives

Hive List

Navigate to Hives in the sidebar to see all your hives. The list shows:

  • Hive name and display name
  • Hive style (Langstroth, Top Bar, etc.)
  • GPS location (if set)
  • Health status
  • Active/inactive status
  • Organization name (when viewing multiple organizations)

If you belong to multiple organizations and no specific organization is selected, hives are grouped by organization.

Searching

Use the Search field at the top of the filter panel to find hives by name, display name, or notes.

Filtering

Use the filter panel to narrow down hives by:

  • Organization: Show hives from a specific organization
  • Hive Type: Production hives, breeding hives, nucleus hives, or all
  • Hive Style: Langstroth, Top Bar, Warre, Flow, or other styles as configured
  • Health Status: Filter by health assessment
  • Active Status: Active, inactive, or all

Map View

Hives that have GPS coordinates (latitude and longitude) are displayed on an interactive map below the list. The map updates automatically when you apply filters, so only the matching hives are shown. Click a hive marker on the map to go to its detail page.

Hive Types

Bifolk supports three types of hives:

Production Hives

Standard hives used for honey production and general beekeeping. These are the most common type. Displayed with a blue "Production" badge.

Breeding Hives

Specialized hives dedicated to queen breeding programs. Breeding hives:

  • Are visually distinguished with a yellow "Breeding" badge in the list
  • Cannot be used as parent hives for colony splits (prevented by the system)
  • Serve as the operational workspace where queen rearing takes place
  • Display associated breeding records on their detail page

Nucleus Hives

Nucleus colonies (Ableger) used for colony splits and establishing new colonies. Nucleus hives:

  • Are visually distinguished with a green "Nucleus" badge in the list
  • Have no special restrictions — they function like production hives but with a distinct classification
  • Help beekeepers track which hives are nucleus colonies versus full production hives

All three types are managed from the same hive list and share the same URL structure.

Creating a Hive

  1. Click Add Hive from the hive list
  2. Fill in the form:
Field Description Required
Organization Which organization owns this hive Yes
Hive Type Production, Breeding, or Nucleus Yes
Hive ID Unique identifier (e.g., "H-001") Yes
Display Name Friendly name (e.g., "Front Garden Hive"). If not set, the Hive ID is used for display. No
Hive Style Construction style (Langstroth, Top Bar, etc.). Different styles have different chamber weights used for harvest estimation. Yes
Latitude / Longitude GPS coordinates for map display. Can be set by clicking on the map. No
Installation Date When the hive was set up No
Drone Present Whether drones are present in this hive No
Health Status Initial health assessment. After creation, health status can only be changed through inspections. No
Notes Additional information No
  1. Click Save

Tip

The organization defaults to your currently selected organization. If you belong to multiple organizations, you can choose which one to assign the hive to.

Viewing a Hive

Click on a hive name to see its detail page. The detail page shows:

  • Hive Information: Name, display name, type, style, GPS coordinates, health status, installation date
  • Hive Structure: A visual rack-style diagram showing the physical layout of the hive, including honey supers (blue), brood chambers (amber), and the stand (gray). This visualization is based on the chamber counts recorded during inspections. Below the diagram, a summary shows the number of brood chambers and honey supers, along with the date of the last inspection that recorded chamber data. If no chamber data has been recorded yet, a placeholder message is shown instead.
  • Queen: Current queen assigned to the hive (if any), including queen health status and health history
  • Photos: Hive photos with primary photo highlighted
  • Recent Inspections: Latest inspection records
  • Recent Operations: Latest feeding, treatment, and maintenance records
  • Harvest Records: Honey harvests from this hive
  • Weight Trends: Weight change over time displayed as a mini-chart (last 6 months of inspection data), with an indicator showing whether weight is increasing, decreasing, or stable
  • Harvest Forecast: Estimated harvestable honey. If chamber counts and weight data are available from inspections, the forecast is calculated from total weight minus brood and honey chamber weights. Otherwise, it is projected from the weight gain trend during the season (April through July).
  • Breeding Records: For breeding hives only, the associated queen breeding records are displayed

Editing a Hive

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Edit
  3. Update the fields you want to change
  4. Click Save

Note

The health status field is read-only when editing. Health status can only be changed through inspections. The organization cannot be changed through editing; use the transfer feature instead.

Converting Hive Type

You can convert between production, breeding, and nucleus hive types by changing the Hive Type field during editing. The system handles the conversion automatically, preserving all hive data and associated records.

Hive Health Status

Each hive has a health status that is set during creation and updated through inspections:

Status Description
Excellent Thriving colony, strong population
Good Healthy colony, normal activity
Fair Minor concerns, needs monitoring
Poor Significant issues, intervention needed
Critical Severe problems, immediate action required

Health status changes are tracked automatically. You can view the health history in the hive detail page and in the health changes report. Each change records who made it, when, and which inspection triggered it.

Info

The available health status values are configurable by your organization administrator through the system configuration.

Hive Photos

Document your hives with photos:

Adding a Photo

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Add Photo
  3. Upload an image
  4. Optionally add a Caption to describe the photo
  5. Check Primary Photo if you want this photo to appear as the hive's main image
  6. Click Save

Editing a Photo

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click on the photo you want to edit
  3. Update the Caption or Primary Photo setting
  4. Click Save

Deleting a Photo

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click on the photo you want to delete
  3. Confirm the deletion

Note

Only one photo can be the primary photo. When you mark a new photo as primary, any previously marked primary photo is automatically unset. If no photo is explicitly set as primary, the most recently uploaded photo is shown as the main image.

Printable Hive Labels

You can generate a printable label with a QR code for each hive:

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Label
  3. A print-friendly page opens showing:
  4. The hive name and display name
  5. Organization name
  6. A QR code that links directly to the hive detail page
  7. Latest inspection date (if available)
  8. Use your browser's print function to print the label

Tip

Scanning the QR code on a printed label takes you directly to the hive's detail page in Bifolk.

Transferring a Hive

To move a hive to a different organization:

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Transfer
  3. Select the destination organization from the dropdown
  4. Check the confirmation box
  5. Confirm the transfer

If the hive has a queen assigned, the queen is also transferred automatically to the destination organization.

Warning

You must be an Admin or Owner in both the source and destination organizations to transfer a hive. If you are not an Admin or Owner in any other organization, the transfer option will not be available.

Deactivating a Hive

If a hive is no longer in use, you can deactivate it:

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Edit
  3. Uncheck Active
  4. Click Save

Deactivated hives are excluded from dashboard statistics and default list views, but their data is preserved.

Deleting a Hive

Danger

Deleting a hive permanently removes it and all associated data (inspections, harvests, operations, photos, health history). This action cannot be undone.

To delete a hive:

  1. Go to the hive detail page
  2. Click Delete
  3. Confirm the deletion

Only Admin and Owner roles can delete hives.

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