Antonio Frasconi. Angry Beekeeper.

Monitoring Hive Weight, Temp, and Sound: The Inside Info and What it Might Mean

Bryan Hains

Special thanks to: • Paul Vonk, Center for Honeybee Research • South Carolina Beekeepers Association • NASA HoneyBeeNet 2

Thanks to SMBG for Helping to interpret the data!

Background

3

Past 4

Past and Present 5

About HiveTool.net

• Open-source • Goal is to produce software tools to monitor, manage and research bees and honey production • Uses off the shelf, consumer grade (low cost) hardware • All the data is available for download by anyone at anytime for analysis • Feeds data to NASA’s HoneyBeeNet 6

Hive Locations (17) 7

The Setup

8

Hardware and Software • IBM Lenovo X60 laptop circa 2006 – 1.6 GHz, 80GB HD, 1GB RAM – Dual boot windows xp, unix • Lubuntu lightweight Ubuntu unix • Adam equipment CPWplus 200 scale • TEMPer2 USB thermoprobe • Kinobo Akiro USB 2.0 microphone • Extension cord • USB hub, extender, misc connectors • Hivetool software, sox, etc • Plywood

$90 ebay free $160 amazon $16 ebay $19 amazon $5 $26 free free

======

$316 TOTAL PROJECT COST

9

10

Inside

Linux-based laptop or Pi

Power 120 VAC Hardware Configuration

Outside

Weatherproof Electronics Enclosure

TEMPer2

Ambient RS-232 to USB Adapter USB Hub 1 2 3 4

Scale

12 VDC RS-232 Controller

Hive

TEMPer2

Hive

Microphone

Hive Platform (Load cells) 11

Outside and Inside the Hive 12

13 What the Software Does • At prespecified intervals, crontab: – Runs shell and perl scripts to capture hive data – Updates graphs – Emails computer status and daily graph – Backs up data and store offsite • Web pages updated in real time and served to the world

Update long graphs Archive data Email update

6 am noon 6 pm midnight

Weigh Audio sampling

System Output 14

What Can be Learned?

and What Does it Mean?

15

A Typical Day in the Life Broodnest temp Hive weight Ambient temp Midnight Noon Midnight 16

Example: Pollen vs. Nectar Flow 17 Data Log Data Log

Example: Cleansing or Orientation Flight 18 • At around noon on two days (12/27/13, 1/7/14), a sudden drop in hive weigh was noticed • From a 0.2 lb drop (62.7 – 62.5), a rough estimate of the number of bees leaving can be calculated; assuming 3000 bees per pound, approximately 600 more bees were flying • Is it possible to calculate hive strength and egg laying ability of the queen?

Example: Cleansing or Orientation Flight 19 bchains@doppelbienen: 2014/03/30 13:40 + 105.2 lb 2014/03/30 13:45 + 105.2 lb

2014/03/30 13:50 + 105.2 lb 2014/03/30 13:55 + 105.1 lb 2014/03/30 14:00 + 105.0 lb 2014/03/30 14:05 + 104.9 lb 2014/03/30 14:10 + 104.7 lb 2014/03/30 14:15 + 104.8 lb 2014/03/30 14:20 + 104.9 lb 2014/03/30 14:25 + 105.0 lb

Example: Robbing?

20

Example: Dehydration and Respiration in High Humidity 21 • From midnight- 8 AM the hive

gained

90 mL) weight (~0.2 lb = 3 oz = • Source is probably fog and/or condensation from bee respiration due to lowered dewpoint

Example: Rain and Cold Spell 22

Daily

Example: Growing Colony (Eucalyptus Flow?) 23

Midnights

Example: Untreated Varroa Infestation • Total hive weight is dropping • Treated with half dose MAQS on Sep 15, and Nov 10 – ineffective

Daily

24

Midnights

Analysis of Hive Sounds

25

Audio Sampling • • • • • • Microphone placed in center of broodnest Frequency range: 100 –16000 Hz Sound sampled at 16k Hz for 10 sec, every 2h from 7am-7pm (depending on season) 1000 Hz lowpass filter to reduce noise Spectrogram updated q 2h on day’s events Ogg format used to archive sounds

Charles Butler. 'The feminine monarchie or a treatise concerning bees, and the due ordering of them'. Oxford, 1609. [NLS shelfmark: MRB.13]

26

Audio Spectrogram • “Looking for” queen tooting/piping (350-550 Hz = G sharp), quacking (200-350 Hz), regular buzzing, disturbed sounds, tapping feet 27

Audio Example: Circadian Activity 28

Typical warm and sunny day

7 am 7 pm

Audio Example: Queen Piping 29

Audio Example: Waggle Dance

Waggle dance

30

Audio Example: Cold Foggy Day 31

Audio Example: Raindrops 32

What I’ve Learned • Bees are incredible creatures • Awesome insight can be obtained by simply weighing the hive • This can be done cheaply • Daily activity varies dramatically per nectar, pollen, weather • I’m more in touch with my bees, but inside the hive less • We need more hive monitoring! Join me!

33

Bryan Hains

[email protected]

Beebox: http://99.47.64.18:8080/ Doppelbienen: http://99.47.64.18:8081/

Appendix 34

Next Steps • Real-time audio streaming and analysis, email alerting for weight changes (swarming) • Video quantification of traffic?

• Autonomous hive computer: – Raspberry Pi B: solar, wifi 35

Example: Spring Nectar Flow (GA003) • Adding and removing honey supers is best managed by knowing the beginning and end of nectar flows • This hive experienced a 90 pound weight gain in just three weeks

Date

2012/03/12 2012/03/14 2012/03/16 2012/03/18 2012/03/20 2012/03/22 2012/03/24 2012/03/26

Day of Year

72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 2012/03/28 2012/03/30 2012/04/01 88 90 92 2012/04/03 94 22 Day Total Weight Gain

Weight

140.1

143.2

133.2

136.7

151.1

159.2

165.0

178.0

189.5

202.5

206.5

210.4

Delta Weight

1.3

2.3

4.7

3.6

7.7

3.3

2.5

8.8

9.1

4.7

3.4

0.9

89.6

36

Example: Untreated Varroa Infestation 37

Predictive Mathematical Models

38

ΔHive Weight Weight Gain Weight Loss Evaporation

= Weight Gain - Weight Loss = Nectar + Pollen + water + brood growth + bee growth + landings + FOD [1] [2] = Evaporation + Metabolic activity (respiration) + bee deaths + waste elimination + take offs [3] = (Nectar t0 )*ER + (Nectar t-1 )*2/3*ER + (Nectar t-2 )*1/3*ER [4] where

Evaporation Rate (ER)

~ (Water Content * Temperature * Wind) Humidity [5]

FOD (Foreign Object or Debris): Rain, animals, branch, rock

Audio Example: Walking Around?

39 • Walking around after dark

Audio Example: Leaf Blower

• Bzzzz 40