Free Beekeeping Tools & Calculators

Free, no sign-up beekeeping calculators and planners from Lorob Bees, built on the same research as our beekeeping guides and used in our own yards. Each one answers a question we get asked every week: when is my hive broodless, how many treatments do I need, which vaporizer fits my apiary, what is wrong with my bees, when will my new queen lay. Every tool runs in your browser, remembers your inputs, and exports to your calendar where it makes sense.

Varroa and oxalic acid

TimingBroodless Window FinderEnter your ZIP code and get the dates your colonies are likely broodless this winter, estimated from three years of local weather, with a calendar reminder for the frame check and the single oxalic acid treatment that reaches every mite. ScheduleOxalic Acid Treatment Series PlannerPick a start date and interval and get every treatment date across the brood cycle, the acid you need per round, the mite washes that prove it worked, and a one-click calendar file. ModelVarroa Mite Population SimulatorStart from your mite wash, add treatments, and watch the mite load through winter on a chart. See why a single treatment does little in August and everything in December. VaporizerInstantVap SizerHives, yards, batteries and treatment style in; the right InstantVap model out, with batteries to carry, minutes per round, oxalic acid per season and a starter kit.

Colony management

Bee mathQueen Timeline CalculatorQueen cells, a split, a caged queen, a package or a swarm: pick the event and the date and get emergence, mating and first-egg dates, the days to stay out of the hive, and the day to stop waiting. DiagnosisHive Symptom CheckerTick what you see on the bees, in the brood and on the comb. Get the most likely causes ranked, from varroa and deformed wing virus to foulbrood, beetles, robbing and starvation, with what to do next. SeasonRegional Beekeeping CalendarA month-by-month task list anchored to your local frost dates and forage season: inspections, splits, supers, mite washes, the two treatment windows, feeding and winterizing.

How they fit together

Start with the calendar. The Regional Beekeeping Calendar gives you the shape of your year, including the one date that matters most: when mites have to be under control before winter bees are raised.
Count, then decide. A mite wash is the input to everything. Put the number into the Mite Population Simulator to see where it is headed and what different treatment dates do.
Schedule it. With brood in the hive, the Treatment Series Planner puts a series across the brood cycle on your calendar. In late fall, the Broodless Window Finder tells you when one treatment does the work of five.
Handle the surprises. Queen cells, a swarm, crawling bees or a bad smell: the Queen Timeline Calculator and the Hive Symptom Checker tell you what to do and when.
Get the right gear once. The InstantVap Sizer matches a vaporizer and batteries to your operation so the treatment is a 20-second job per hive instead of an afternoon.

Have an idea for a tool? These exist because beekeepers asked. If there is a calculation you do on paper every season, tell us and we will build it.

Keep reading

All Lorob Bees beekeeping guides: varroa, oxalic acid vaporization, pests and diseases, in one place.
What is oxalic acid? and is it natural or synthetic?
Does oxalic acid vaporization work? What the studies show
Treatment-free beekeeping and varroa: what works, what fails

Ready to treat?

Shop the InstantVap oxalic acid vaporizers, EPA-registered EZ-OX oxalic acid, the Easy-Check mite wash and a full-face respirator. Lorob Bees is the primary US seller of the InstantVap, with stateside customer service and a two-year warranty.

Built by the Lorob Bees team

Lorob Bees is the primary US seller of the InstantVap oxalic acid vaporizer, run by beekeepers in Baltimore, Maryland. We build these tools from the same research we cite in our beekeeping guides, and we use them in our own yards. More about Lorob Bees.

General beekeeping information from Lorob Bees, not a substitute for a product label or your state apiary inspector. Always read and follow the label of any product you use in a hive.