I just came in from putting my ear up to the hives to listen. I do almost everyday. I can hear them and it is soothing and reassuring to me. A sethoscope would be great!

 

Great idea! I'll check my girls tonight while using one. Thanks for the idea.:thumbsup:

 

You may need to move around and listen at different areas on the boxes. Tap on the sides a few times as you change locations and you should hear them buzzing when you are near the cluster.

Also, check your stethoscope and try to twist the hose at the bell connection and see if it makes a half turn and clicks. In one position it is very sensitive and gives you great sound amplification. In the other you will have a hard time hearing them. That's how mine is anyway.

 

My bees have been graded in almond and plum pollination with a stethoscope
Ernie

 

Are you serious? Are we going to have to start selecting for loud bees now? :doh:

 

I work in healthcare and use a stethoscope at work. So I borrowed it for a day as an experiment, since I had been simply putting my ear to the hive and wondered if the stethoscope would be better.

In my opinion, I can hear the bees better with my ear pressed right to the hive. The stethoscope was okay, but it just wasn't as clear as my ear. Just my 2c worth.

 

Tried ear and stethoscope. Can't hear anything. But then it's been cold and windy. Didn't move all around the boxes trying to find sound.

 

A long screwdriver works good as a stethoscope. Just press the handle tightly against your ear.

It works great as a mechanics stethoscope too, for finding the exact locations of noises in an engine.

 

Stethoscopes are $5 on Ebay.... I doubt my doctor gets his there, but I'm sure they would be good enough to listen to a hive.

Larry

 

I am in Missouri and just came out of 10 days of weather that was in the teens & single digits. Today as well as several times during the cold weather I placed my ear against the hive to listen for my bees. I could hear them buzzing loud and clear.

 

I have used one for a long time. I have always had the best luck hearing them by the upper entrance. If I dont here anything alittle tap will get them buzzing. I dont even bother unless the wind is calm

 

There's an inexpensive mechanic's stethoscope that has a long thin metal rod instead of the usual bell hearing piece that can be used to hear bees. However it does not seem to work half as well as a rolled up magazine and a hard knock against the side to hear the roar and to try to judge their condition. Usually though, nothing is needed but a hard knock and they can be heard. Good idea to check them and to notice if there are a few dead ones on the outside as proof that they can get out and fly with all this cold and snow. Once saved what later became an excellent hive because I opened them up, (wrapped hive), in early Feb., when I couldn't hear them with the rolled up magazine. It turned out to be a very small cluster but they were alive. Dribbled some honey right onto them and started feeding more honey and granulated sugar. Beautiful black queen, very prolific later that year - a really worthwhile save honeywise as well. The kind of experience you remember for years. OMTCW

 

Like danno I can hear them best by placing the stethoscope over the upper vent hole. Normally you will hear them loud and clear. If not give the hive a little tap. If you hear nothing nobody is home.

 

Mother-n-law was a nurse so I picked up an old stethoscope and have been using it on the bee hive. I can hear the soothing hmmmmm, even through the plastic insulation. Hope you find the hive heart-beat!

Chris

 

Daughter got a stethoscope in a Junior Dr. kit she got for Christmas, and it works great for the bees. I like it because it lets me listen without kneeling in the snow. Also, it seems like I can get an idea of where the cluster is inside the hive because the sound is louder in certain areas. Somehow, that seems reassuring to me.

It definitely doesn't work on days with high wind, and like others have said, I have to listen on different sides of the hive and move up and down to zero in on them.

My daughter has been able to come out and listen to them also, which is pretty cool. Usually the beekeeping activities are only dad's business, even with the child's suit we got her. This way she can be an active part of monitoring the health of the hives over the winter.

I don't think you wasted your money.

 

I'm a 2nd year beekeeper, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Also, I'm in Wisconsin where it gets pretty cold. Several people mentioned/recommended tapping on the hive during the winter to get the bees to make noise. My mentor strongly recommends against this. His theory: Any disruption, including even light tapping, causes some of the bees to break cluster. When even a few bees break cluster in cold weather, some of them are not coming back alive, and you have weakened the hive. Maybe not very much, but why take the chance of putting a marginal colony over the edge?

 

I agree with your mentor.

every break the cluster moment is bad. in the very cold.

once winter comes, keep the entrance free of ice and snow and in the spring you will know....


GG

 

@roddhall, i agree with your mentor and avoid tapping my hives when it is cold enough for the bees to be in tight cluster.

it is harder to hear them under that condition, but not impossible. a strong wind outside will create enough of a similar background noise that the cluster roar gets lost in it, so waiting for a calm wind condition makes it a lot easier to hear the bees.

also, if one happens to have dense or closed cell styrofoam (i.e. pink foam board) attached tightly to the outside of the hive, the cluster roar through the stethoscope is magnified quite a bit.

 

Interesting you would make that comment about foam board insulation. The same mentor I mentioned before recommended putting 1" pink foam board on the sides of my hives (2" on top), which I've done. At the same time, he mentioned that finds it much easier to hear the bees with his ear pressed against the foam board than with it pressed directly to the wooden side of the hive.

I was intrigued by a couple mentions in this thread of a mechanics' stethoscope, so I did a little research on them. Apparently there are two types of probes, one for finding and isolating mechanical sounds and one for hearing air-induced sounds. Some mechanics' stethoscopes come with both types, which are interchangeable. Based on several comments about the difficulty of hearing the bees on a windy day, it seems like a stethoscope with a mechanical probe might be just the ticket. I just ordered one from Amazon. I'll update this thread after I've had a chance to try it.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. Your post reminded me of some things my mentor says about winter entrances that seem to make really good sense. First, he recommends drilling a 1/2" - 3/4" emergency escape entrance in the hive, in case the main entrance gets clogged with ice or snow ... or with dead bees. Second, and maybe more important, he recommends drilling the secondary entrance in the bottom box of the hive, just below and to one side of the front handle. Apparently many people put the secondary entrance near the top of the hive. The bees are expending all their available energy trying to keep the hive warm. Warm air rises. If the secondary entrance is near the top of the hive, the warm air will escape through it. The hive will have what is akin to the "draw" in a chimney - cold air in the bottom entrance, warm air out the top. The same thing will happen if the secondary entrance is very low on the hive, but to a much lesser degree. So the upper portions of the hive will have a better chance of staying warm, with less energy output from the bees.

 

Again, I am a mere 2nd year beekeeper, so you have probably forgotten more than I will ever know about overwintering. I mean no disrespect, but I can't imagine anything that could be worse for your colony than opening it up during the winter. Whatever warmth they have built up goes right out the top. The disruption will cause them to break cluster. When you replace the top cover, the inside of the hive will be the same temperature as outside. The bees that are lucky enough to get back to the cluster without dying will have to do all the work required to bring the inside temperature of the hive back down and reform the cluster in order to protect the queen. "I'm smarter than you is the enemy of I'm willing to learn new things.

 

Right.......
So they say.

Meanwhile, I have been at this long enough to ignore some of the "rules".
Opening my bees anytime a year - this is something that will continue being my SOP - it works, it is an efficient, accurate, and harmless method in Wisconsin.

BTW, if you are near Dane county - I always have locally produced bees/queens for sale thru the most of the year - FYI.

 

I've used a stethoscope to listen to the buzzing, and that was always satisfying. Somewhere along the way I've lost the scope, so have not for a while. It never told me anything accept there were some bees making noise during the winter.

 

I really can't see opening the top as being less intrusive than tapping. That said, I just came in from having a look in at mine through the clear plastic topping. They however are not clustered yet. There is a bit of fog on the plastic and around the edges. Looking at their respiration rate seems they are pretty laid back. Population might be higher than optimum and R values as well.

If a colony needs to be clustered it generally is not good to disturb them but if they need emergency feeding etc. then that is the lesser of two evils; do what you have to do! They can stand some pretty severe cold challenges but disturbance does have a cost.

 

Good point, Joe. Here's what I was taught about why it's important to check the bees weekly during the winter. If, God forbid, you lose a colony during the winter, you will know when it died. The rule of thumb I learned was that if they die before New Year's, it was probably because of mites. If you lose a hive later than that, it was probably because they ran out of resources necessary to keep them alive until spring. Either result MIGHT give you some useful information about how to better prep your hives for overwintering in the future.

 

I may suggest there are better ways of figuring out how the hive dies than banging on it every little while with some sort of line in the snow for the when.

have a look at
Diseases and Pests
here on BS it has some good info.

GG

 

I find the bell, or whatever it's called at the end, is ineffective through wood - so I pull it off and stick the tube 1/2" into the entrance, then I can hear them rustling away or, in summer, buzzing.

 

Great idea! If I can't hear anything from the side of my hives with the mechanics' stethoscope, I'll try sticking the end of it into one of the entrances.

 

a bell type stethoscope with a large diameter diaphram is best.

 

Apparently many people put the secondary entrance near the top of the hive. The bees are expending all their available energy trying to keep the hive warm. Warm air rises. If the secondary entrance is near the top of the hive, the warm air will escape through it. The hive will have what is akin to the "draw" in a chimney - cold air in the bottom entrance, warm air out the top.

Just screw a small disc entrance over the upper hole. I put mine right at the top to act as a secondary entrance or to turn the disc to vent if needed, but I keep it closed in the winter. A few times last winter I spun the disc to open it when the weather was warm, it was easier than digging the bottom entrance out of the snow. They came out for their cleansing flights and in the evening I closed it up again. Win, win.

Again, I am a mere 2nd year beekeeper, so you have probably forgotten more than I will ever know about overwintering. I mean no disrespect, but I can't imagine anything that could be worse for your colony than opening it up during the winter.

I open mine in the winter when temps. rise above zero, lower if they need stores and the weather won't cooperate. A plastic sheet makes a lovely see thru cover that does not allow much heat to escape and allows for a quick check on the feed. Better to open than to have them starve.

 

Just screw a small disc entrance over the upper hole. I put mine right at the top to act as a secondary entrance or to turn the disc to vent if needed, but I keep it closed in the winter. A few times last winter I spun the disc to open it when the weather was warm, it was easier than digging the bottom entrance out of the snow. They came out for their cleansing flights and in the evening I closed it up again. Win, win.



I open mine in the winter when temps. rise above zero, lower if they need stores and the weather won't cooperate. A plastic sheet makes a lovely see thru cover that does not allow much heat to escape and allows for a quick check on the feed. Better to open than to have them starve.

Sorry, I probably misspoke. I didn't mean to say a secondary entrance near the top of a hive is a bad thing, just that it's a bad thing during the winter when the bees are trying to keep the hive warm. The open/close disc entrance near the top of the hive is a great idea for in-season use, and I plan to use it next year but close it during the winter. The advice I got from a pretty smart mentor is that the bees need an "emergency" entrance during the winter, in case the main entrance gets clogged with ice, snow, or dead bees. And he recommended that it be as low as possible so all the warm air the bees are producing will stay in the upper part of the hive instead of venting out an entrance near the top.