About This Project

Current beekeeping manages swarms through open inspections and manipulations of hives and colonies. We hypothesise that telemetry equipment can co-exist with bees and function effectively. Using this data we will test the hypothesis that a large, insulated hive with minimal open inspections, increases the colony population size and the honey yield while reducing swarms. The results will be used in the design and manufacture of a low labor:high productivity hive.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Like many people, I find honeybees fascinating and appreciate their importance. As a beekeeper, I could not reconcile claims that open inspections and manipulations of queens and colonies are necessary for bee health; when I observed so many stressors including crushed bees, increased stinging, high labor costs and occupational ergonomic hazards. Furthermore, overwinter losses persist because of any combination of uninsulated hives causing severe thermal stress; isolation starvation, where bees starve despite available stores because cold clusters cannot cross structural gaps and carbon dioxide and ventilation conflict.

I built a bespoke, large, insulated hive with large area ‘crush-free’ frame design to use technology to monitor conditions, transitioning toward a reduced-labor, back-friendly 'bee hosting' model for production hives and practices; The ultimate aim being to make hosted bees more healthy and productive with bee-hosting more attractive to more people.

What is the significance of this project?

The project addresses a structural flaw: Modern beekeeping practices are largely tethered to 19th-century hive designs rather than modern ecological pressures.

The larger brood area uses a steel reinforced modular structure with a timber lined interior and telemetry wires routed in channels away from bees. The computer sits in a chamber below the bees with the battery at the lowest point. The motorized entrance is swappable for maintenance. Steel has been passivated to prevent rusting and any battery effect in a naturally moist environment. While we will use crush-free frames with a mechanism to weigh the frames and keep the frames free, open inspections are substituted with camera inspections. The honey yield area will use standard ‘supers’.

Project data will validate a system and future production design requiring less labor, increased population and yield; reduced bee stings, no chemicals, minimal lifting and a reduced learning curve for newcomers.

What are the goals of the project?

Upon successful funding, the computer, sensors, cameras and battery will be installed to the Veehive Beacon. Initial coding will establish a telemetry system to measure internal environmental conditions. Once validated, bees will be introduced and real-time biological data logged. This data and endoscopic monitoring will test specific hypotheses within the scope of the experiment: first, that colonies grow larger in a larger-volume hive; second, that bees and technology coexist without adverse effects on health or productivity in a minimally invasive, non-chemical environment. Finally as far as data allows, we will discuss whether collected data can help predict swarms and whether swarms follow a fixed critical-mass population dynamic rather than a percentage colony split should a swarm occur, otherwise whether a larger hive volumes reduce swarming frequency when the population increase would typically cause a swarm.