Beekeeping is a matter of planning as much as it is a technical craft. The whole of colony management rests on timing; as the operation grows, planning of resources, labour and cost is added to that.

Why it needs its own section

However good the technical knowledge, an apiary run without a plan runs into the same problems:

• Jobs are done correctly but late — which is most of what goes wrong in beekeeping
• Colony numbers exceed what the area can carry
• Labour runs short in the busy periods
• Costs are unknown, so pricing is wrong
• When a loss occurs there is no reserve

Three levels

• The season plan: The order and timing of the year's work
• The production plan: Which product, how much, from which colonies
• The business plan: Growth, capital, labour, risk

At a small scale only the first is needed. As scale grows the other two become necessary.

The basis of planning: records

No plan can be built without records. A beekeeper who does not know when they did what last year cannot plan this year.

The most valuable records: the forage calendar, colony performance, Varroa measurements, costs and time spent.

Changing conditions

Fixed calendars are becoming less reliable. Shifting flowering, a longer brood season and new pests all require the plan to be revised each year.

A plan is therefore not a document written once and shelved but a tool updated every season.