Hive Monitoring

[brothermoo]

Today Jon and I installed 4 hive monitors and a hive scale on some hives. They transmit data about temp of broodnest, humidity of broodnest, acoustics inside and flight frequencies are monitored for activity at entrance.
2009
Below is the hive scale in situ
2010
Here is the monitor unit in a brood box
2011
And finally the happy beekeeper surveying his apiary after the work is done :D
2012
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[Jon]

This is part of a project from a local association (Dromore) which got a grant of nearly £10,000 to buy the Arnia equipment for 8 different groups of beekeepers.
Each group has 4 hive monitors, a scale a weather station and a transmitter.
The data gets sent to a data centre in Newcastle once every 24 hours via an o2 sim card in the transmitter and can be checked online for patterns such as brood nest temperature fluctuations, brood nest humidity etc.

That's one of our Galtee queen colonies in the photo, the bottom brood box of a double brood.

Note the classy combination of a correx dummy board and a high tech monitor!

[chrisjhodges]

Characteristic stance of Mr G in finest attire!!


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[gavin]

Looks like there's a lot of fun to be had with these things.


Characteristic stance of Mr G in finest attire!!


A fine figure of a beekeeper there. I like the Larry Grayson pose. And the little proto-kilt (or personal skep as Paul might have it) poking out from under the jacket, a nod to Scottish forebears perhaps. ;)

[drumgerry]

Oooo shut that hive!

[Jon]

Yiz are all very funny!

[drumgerry]

Seriously Jon great project. And a good use for public funding for a change.

[Jimbo]

The SBA were involved a few years ago with a similar project. There was a presentation given by the person from ARNIA at one of the SBA meetings but I have heard nothing since. I know one of our members got a monitor so I will ask about his experience with it.

[Jon]

One of the oft repeated claims on biobees is that opening a colony is bad as it reduces the brood nest temperature and this favours the reproduction of the varroa mite.
One of the devotees got into an argument with me on the bbka facebook page recently and he claimed that opening the hive would lower the temperature of the brood nest for about 24 hours (LOL)

This is data from two of our colonies on Tuesday night. 6062 was opened around 7pm for half an hour and 6063 was opened around 7.45pm for about half an hour to allow our beginner class to manipulate frames.
The last column shows the brood nest temperature between 5 o clock and 9 o clock at 2 hour intervals. Range 33.2 to 33.4

6062 13/05/2014 17:00 1400000400 2036 38.32168568 1033 33.24542167
6062 13/05/2014 19:00 1400007600 1831 32.13224778 1035 33.40659384
6062 13/05/2014 21:00 1400014800 1951 35.75533338 1035 33.40659384

This one was also opened for 30-40 minutes around 7 o clock
less than 1c range.

6063 13/05/2014 17:00 1400000400 1927 35.03071626 1043 34.05128248
6063 13/05/2014 19:00 1400007600 1997 37.14418286 1032 33.16483559
6063 13/05/2014 21:00 1400014800 2090 39.9520742 1044 34.13186856

[prakel]

One of the devotees got into an argument with me on the bbka facebook page recently and he claimed that opening the hive would lower the temperature of the brood nest for about 24 hours (LOL)

There's a lot of rubbish doing the rounds with regard hive temperature, normally by people who don't have a clue if you ask me. Over the last few years I've actually made a point of opening a few hives in the depths of each winter -a calculated risk on my part to see what the score actually is with regard to brood rearing/cessation. This after hearing of all the doom that will befall my bees.... but, guess what, I've never seen any noticeable issues either at the time or during the following Spring. Not for everyone, I know, but I've become very tired of being told what's right and wrong regarding bees -especially by people who don't actually have practical experience of what they preach. I reckon that the worst that'll befall me is an entire chapter in the 'New History of Bad Beekeepers'.

[lindsay s]

Over the last few years I've actually made a point of opening a few hives in the depths of each winter -a calculated risk on my part to see what the score actually is with regard to brood rearing/cessation.
Hi Prakel
Would you mind sharing your winter observations with the rest of us?

[fatshark]

I think that a researcher from the group in Sussex suggested that the best way to treat with OA in winter was to go through the colony and remove any sealed brood a day or two before adding the OA. This of course makes perfect sense in terms of getting the OA to work, but contradicts the dogma that the colony must not be disturbed etc etc.

I'm pretty sure I've seen a video posted by our Finnish friend showing a colony being opened when the temperature was minus [some large number]

[prakel]

Hi Prakel
Would you mind sharing your winter observations with the rest of us?

Hi lindsay, I'm on the South Coast with bees of nondescript origin.

I did make a couple of posts here (can't find them to link to at present but will have another look tomorrow) about a successful attempt by the bees to raise a queen (although obviously not mate) during one January, although strangely it wasn't initially a colony on my 'list'. This is something I'd love to learn more about myself as I think it may well offer another perspective on what are universally thought of as failed supercedure attempts late in the season resulting in drone layers the following Spring. Obviously some are, but how many times are bees able to rear new queens at a time when most would categorically deny the possibility.

This last winter was the first that I noticed a very definite brood break during January, others will comment on the fact that it was a very mild winter but my own hives were subject to an almost constant biting wind for a couple of months, as such the winter was much harder on them than normal. In more normal years there has been very little by way of a break and certainly not in all hives looked at (maybe 10 or so). I haven't worked to set dates for checks due to other commitments; average, a couple of times through Jan and again February. December hasn't really figured because it doesn't take much imagination to know what's going on at that time of year in these parts.

[prakel]

I'm pretty sure I've seen a video posted by our Finnish friend showing a colony being opened when the temperature was minus [some large number]

This one maybe?


http://youtu.be/ltFEi07DTqM

[The Drone Ranger]

This is good news for diy hive monitoring enthusiasts
Noise heat weight etc
http://makezine.com/2015/11/25/raspberry-pi-announces-5-computer-model-zero/?utm_source=MakeNewsletter+20151131&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=image&utm_campaign=newslettert
I have a couple of arduino boards but it might be time to check out the Pi

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[fatshark]

Very neat. I've got a couple of the original Pi's and have used them for a variety of things like Airplay audio streaming receivers and to drive a DSLR for time-lapse photography. There's a large user base and anyone with some familiarity with Linux/Unix should be pretty comfortable with getting started. At $5 (or, inevitably, £5 using the universal exchange rate that operates on "stuff I want that's cheaper in the USA") this looks worth a look.

Will using it disrupt the ley lines and mean I have to move my hives (http://www.landandspirit.net/html/beehive-location.html)?

[The Drone Ranger]

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/29dec_magneticfield.htm

Bees leylines don't think so

But hey that's mumbo jumbo for you the more evidence that it's wrong the more convinced the faithful become that it's right

The £5 Pi will be a great tool


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[fatshark]

That link gave me the slowest 404 response error ever with the (very slightly) witty "404 The cosmic object you are looking for has disappeared beyond the event horizon" ... I was hoping you were going to direct me to some well-controlled, statistically-compelling, double-blinded trial of hives and leylines.

Oh well, 'bout time I wrote that grant then ...;)

[Wmfd]

Damn, now I need to worry about my leylines and my curry grids! ;-)

Amazing price for the pi. I've been looking at the ESP8266, a couple of £ each but for the module but then another £ or so for boards plus components and needs soldering.
A pi plus a wifi dongle might be easier, although I'm not sure on battery life - do pi's sleep?

David

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Wmfd
I need to investigate that (don't have a Pi) but one of the phone recharging bricks from Aldi etc should be ok
Fatshark
Sorry bad link intercepted by aliens or something hiding in a black hole try this one
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/29dec_magneticfield/

Bees so busy today had to take some mouse guards off for a while