Descriptions such as “strong colony” are useful at the time but difficult to compare months later. Recording frames of bees and frames of brood gives you two simple numerical measures that can be followed through the season.
Frames of bees describes adult bee coverage, while frames of brood describes the extent of the brood nest. They are related but they are not interchangeable. A colony can have many adult bees while brood production is falling, or a developing colony can have substantial brood that has not yet emerged.
Use the same method each time
Consistency matters more than false precision. Estimate using the same approach on each visit and keep bees and brood as separate fields. Over time, a graph of the two measurements can make changes easier to see and gives context to queen events, splits, nectar flows and other management.
HiveIQ is designed to turn these routine inspection measurements into a colony timeline rather than leaving them scattered through notebooks.