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Honey Bee Counter - Live Data

11K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  WXBEE 
#1 ·
Hey All,

For the next couple of days I'll be sharing some Live Bee Counter Data here... : Live Google Docs


Its a small hive with only two deeps but I'll be adding a super hopefully later today or tomorrow.

Here's a link to the Instructable on how I built the counter: http://www.instructables.com/id/Honey-Bee-Counter/

Here's a recent calibration video:
 

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#19 ·
It seems it would be good to monitor swarms. If there was a mass exodus from the hive showing up on the counter that didn't return. It could be interesting too if they were a huge difference in the numbers, and it directly coincides with a local insecticide spray or something. I also think it would be interesting if it was to catch data on a CCD hive. Then you could monitor the rate of decline etc.
 
#7 ·
yea... these are all good ideas... I like the idea of measuring outside temperature locally... I tried pulling that information in from the internet but I haven't found any good sites that update more periodically than every two hours... and closer than the Portland Airport...
 
#10 ·
Very cool! This falls in the category of "ideas I had that somebody is probably already working on." I've done one-minute entrance counts to assess hive activity and figured it would be possible to do it digitally, albeit with a bit more time commitment than I was willing to put in. I'd be interested in one of those kits if you start producing them for sale. The OSU bee lab is right down the road from me and my GF works there part time, so maybe I'll get to see them in action...

~Mark
 
#11 ·
Looking at some of the data, I'm wondering if it's overestimating based on bees hanging around the entrance. In particular the numbers for late evening (~1 bee per second in and out at 9:15 pm) look suspicious to me. I usually see bees near the entrance then but very few actually flying in/out.

Maybe there would be a way to move the counter a few inches from the hive entrance with a screen tunnel between to minimize this effect.
 
#12 ·
Yep, I think you are right... the night activity is totally OFF... the bees come out on the porch and hang out... I was also thinking along the same lines as you that you can play around with the entrance to minimize this impact... we'll see where that goes.
 
#14 ·
add astrological data to the clock time stamps.... 8:00 pm doesnt really mean much but "sun set" or "twilight" does....(same with 5 am vs sunrise) bees dont carry wrist watches :D

Is the total number in/out at any given time most important? or are we just curious about the delta between any given times. That is to say, I am interested in peek fly times? so i see the graph climbing peak and then falling... vs knowing what the actual number is?
 
#16 ·
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