Apiary Forecast expands from bee-weather forecasting into practical colony management

New Hives Today, Colony Management and offline Apiary Visit features bring weather, forage and colony records together, as the £25 Founder offer closes on 30 September.

Campbeltown, ARGYLL AND BUTE - September 17, 2026-- UK beekeeping service Apiary Forecast has expanded beyond its original bee-weather forecasting tools with a new set of features designed to help beekeepers manage what is happening in their colonies as well as the conditions around them.

The service now combines its existing Inspection, Forage, Stores Pressure, Queen Mating and free UK Swarm weather tools with Hives Today, Colony Management and Apiary Visit.

Hives Today gives members a practical starting point, bringing together weather conditions and current colony priorities so they can quickly see which hives may need attention.

Colony Management provides continuing records for individual colonies, including inspections, feeding, treatments, stores, colony strength, queens and queen development. It also brings forward useful follow-up actions rather than leaving previous observations buried in inspection history.

Apiary Visit takes those records into the apiary. Beekeepers can work through colonies in one visit, recording inspections, feeding, treatments and other hive work as they go. The feature is designed to continue working when mobile reception disappears, with the completed visit reviewed and synchronised afterwards.

Apiary Forecast developer and beekeeper John Richardson said:

"Apiary Forecast started with a fairly simple question: what does the weather actually mean to a beekeeper? It has grown from there.

"Once you're already looking at inspection weather, forage conditions and pressure on stores, it makes sense to connect that information with what you know about the individual colonies. Hives Today is really the result of that. It gives you somewhere to start, rather than expecting you to open half a dozen different tools to work out what needs attention."

Weather interpreted for beekeeping

Apiary Forecast uses weather data from Open-Meteo and adds beekeeping-specific interpretation for different jobs around the apiary.

Its Inspection Outlook looks for useful periods for opening colonies rather than relying on a single daily temperature.

Forage Outlook combines weather with plant-distribution evidence, local seasonal development and known managed forage to help assess pollen and nectar support, bee access and likely forage intake.

Stores Pressure highlights conditions in which colonies may be using carbohydrate faster than they can replace it. Members using Colony Management can also record individual colony stores and feeding, allowing Apiary Forecast to maintain a Stores Position between inspections.

Queen Mating Outlook follows queen-development events alongside local weather to show the more useful opportunities for virgin queen mating flights.

The Swarm Outlook remains free to use throughout the UK, showing when weather may provide an opportunity for a colony already preparing to swarm.

Local rather than generic

Members can save up to three private apiary locations, allowing forecasts to reflect conditions much closer to their own colonies.

Apiary Forecast also uses elevation, exposure, coastal influence and local-development timing when interpreting conditions, while Plant Atlas 2020 provides evidence for wild and semi-wild forage occurring around an area.

Known managed sources such as flowering crops, orchards, pollinator planting or substantial garden and allotment forage can be added by the beekeeper through Managed Forage.

Built around the working apiary

The newer colony-management features are intended to connect forecasting with the normal rhythm of keeping bees.

A beekeeper can see a colony priority in Hives Today, check whether Inspection Outlook offers a useful opportunity to deal with it, then take the colony information into Apiary Visit.

Feeding or treatment work can be recorded directly during a visit without pretending that every interaction with a hive was a complete inspection.

Records then remain with the individual colony and can help inform subsequent visits.

Richardson added:

"The aim isn't to replace the beekeeper's judgement. It's to make the information they already have more useful.

"Weather, forage, the last inspection, what was fed, what the queen was doing and what needs checking next are usually connected in the real world. The software should reflect that."

Founder offer closes 30 September

Apiary Forecast normally costs £35 per year and includes a two-week free trial with no payment details required.

The introductory Founder offer of £25 per year closes on 30 September 2026.

The free UK Swarm Outlook will remain publicly available after the Founder offer closes.

More information and the free trial are available at apiaryforecast.com.

About Apiary Forecast

Apiary Forecast is a UK beekeeping decision-support service created by beekeeper John Richardson and developed by Cyberspace::UK.

It combines weather forecasts with beekeeping context to support decisions around hive inspections, forage and nectar conditions, stores pressure, swarm weather and queen mating. Member features also include private saved apiaries, trends, Hives Today, Colony Management and offline-capable Apiary Visit.

Apiary Forecast began as a local weather-awareness project for the Kintyre and Mid Argyll Beekeeping Association and has since developed into a UK-wide service.

The public Swarm Outlook is free to use.

Website: https://apiaryforecast.com/
Press information: https://apiaryforecast.com/press-media/