Smart Bee Hives: A Radical Of Beekeeping
Because the invention from the wooden beehive 150+ years ago, there’ve been few innovations in beehive design. But that’s all changing now-at warp speed. Where other industries had the luxury to evolve slowly, beekeeping must deploy the most up-to-date technologies if it’s to work industry by storm growing habitat loss, pollution, pesticide use along with the spread of world pathogens.
Enter the “Smart Hive”
-a system of scientific bee care meant to precisely monitor and manage conditions in hives. Where traditional beekeepers might visit each hive on the regular basis, smart hives monitor colonies 24/7, and so can alert beekeepers to the dependence on intervention the moment an issue situation occurs.
“Until the appearance of smart hives, beekeeping was actually an analog process.” Says our founder and Chief Science Officer, Dr. Noah Wilson-Rich. “With technology we’re bringing bees into the Internet of Things. When you can adjust your home’s heat, turn lights off and on, see who’s your entry way, all from the cell phone, have you thought to perform the in final summary is beehives?”
Even though many begin to see the economic potential of smart hives-more precise pollinator management will surely have significant effect on the conclusion of farmers, orchardists and commercial beekeepers-Wilson-Rich with his fantastic team at Best Bees is most encouraged by their impact on bee health. “In the U.S. we lose up to 50 % individuals bee colonies every year.“ Says Wilson-Rich. “Smart hives allow for more precise monitoring and treatment, knowning that could mean a tremendous improvement in colony survival rates. That’s success for all on earth.”
The initial smart hives to be sold utilize solar energy, micro-sensors and smartphone apps to observe conditions in hives and send reports to beekeepers’ phones about the conditions in every hive. Most smart hive systems include monitors that measure hive weight, temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, acoustics and in some cases, bee count.
Weight. Monitoring hive weight gives beekeepers an illustration of the stop and start of nectar flow, alerting these to the necessity to feed (when weight is low) and also to harvest honey (when weight is high). Comparing weight across hives gives beekeepers feeling of the relative productivity of each one colony. An impressive stop by weight can claim that the colony has swarmed, or perhaps the hive may be knocked over by animals.
Temperature. Monitoring hive temperature can alert beekeepers to dangerous conditions: excessive heat indicating the hive needs to be gone after a shady spot or ventilated; unusually low heat indicating the hive must be insulated or protected against cold winds.
Humidity. While honey production creates a humid environment in hives, excessive humidity, specially in the winter, can be quite a danger to colonies. Monitoring humidity levels let beekeepers know that moisture build-up is occurring, indicating a need for better ventilation and water removal.
CO2 levels. While bees can tolerate better degrees of CO2 than humans, excessive levels can kill them. Monitoring CO2 levels can alert beekeepers towards the should ventilate hives.
Acoustics. Acoustic monitoring within hives can alert beekeepers to some variety of dangerous situations: specific adjustments to sound patterns could mean loosing a queen, swarming tendency, disease, or hive raiding.
Bee count. Counting the amount of bees entering and leaving a hive may give beekeepers a signal from the size and health of colonies. For commercial beekeepers this will indicate nectar flow, and also the need to relocate hives to more lucrative areas.
Mite monitoring. Australian scientists are tinkering with a whole new gateway to hives that where bees entering hives are photographed and analyzed to ascertain if bees have found mites while away from hive, alerting beekeepers in the have to treat those hives in order to avoid mite infestation.
Some of the higher (and expensive) smart hives are created to automate most of standard beekeeping work. These may include environmental control, swarm prevention, mite treatment and honey harvesting.
Environmental control. When data indicate a hive is just too warm, humid or has CO2 build-up, automated hives can self-ventilate, optimizing internal environmental conditions.
Swarm prevention. When weight and acoustic monitoring declare that a colony is preparing to swarm, automated hives can transform hive conditions, preventing a swarm from occurring.
Mite treatment. When sensors indicate the presence of mites, automated hives can release anti-mite treatments including formic acid. Some bee scientists are using CO2, allowing levels to climb sufficient in hives to kill mites, but not enough to endanger bees. Others operate with a prototype of your hive “cocoon” that raises internal temperatures to 108 degrees, a degree of heat that kills most varroa mites.
Feeding. When weight monitors indicate 'abnormal' amounts of honey, automated hives can release stores of sugar water.
Honey harvesting. When weight levels indicate a great deal of honey, self-harvesting hives can split cells, allowing honey to empty beyond engineered frames into containers beneath the hives, able to tap by beekeepers.
While smart hives are just start to be adopted by beekeepers, forward thinkers in the marketplace happen to be looking at the next generation of technology.
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