APIVOX SMART MONITOR AND THE MITES... September 28, 2019

APIVOX SMART MONITOR https://apivox-smart-monitor.weebly.com

It was conducted routine monitoring of families. The weather is cold. In the afternoon + 7-10C, but even at this temperature, several bees (of Carniolan breed) from almost all families flew out in search of nectar. In addition, tests were made for the presence of an open brood. This will allow to correlate the consist of free falling mites and the estimated presence of brood residues ...
   

Beehive E-1. 70 mites in 5 days. The ratio of mature to immature mites in free fall is 30/40.

       
The situation in the family has changed. It seems that brood withdrawal is ending.

There is practically no open brood. The fall of an immature mites comes from the last sealed brood. The state of the family is normal.

If you compare the readings 5 ​​days before and now, you can see the difference! The first screenshot shows the unambiguous presence of an open brood, the second tell about the possible minimum residues of open brood or full absence of it ... Given that this is autumn, and there is practically no work in the hive, the graph, although white, is close to the zero line.

Beehive 8-1.  57 mites in 5 days. The ratio of mature to immature mites in free fall is 17\40

   
Diagnostics has not changed compared to the previous time. At the same time, a large fall of immature tick when diagnosing the absence of an open brood suggests, that most likely,  there was the last mass exit of young bees from a sealed brood ...

Beehive 5-1.  1 mite in 5 days. There are no immature mites.

   
This family is the smallest. Since it remains with the old queen, the brood was given to it less than to the other part when the main family was divided, and she gained not too much strength. In fact, only 6 out of 10 frames are covered with bees ....
Despite the fact that it got colder, the brood care signal has almost disappeared. Now, there are no "red caps", from time to time appearing on the chart .... And a small peaks of red color appear due to the general weakness of in-hive works, because the graph is too close to zero line.
Apparently there is practically no brood, which is confirmed by the fact,  that there is too few mites and all are adult, that is.  This mean, that the mites were not in the brood, but on adult bees.


Beehive 5-2.  20 mites in 5 days. The ratio of mature and immature mites in free fall is 10/10.

   
Diagnostics show that there are no differences from the previous period. There is no open brood or very few. A free fall of immature mites indicates the outcome of young bees from the last sealed brood.

Beehive 8-2.  10 mites in 5 days. There are no immature mites.

       
Diagnosis once again showed the normal state of the family and the absence of an open brood. The free fall of only a mature mites, indicates the absence of young bees coming from the sealed brood, which is also does not exist ... All mites falled from adult bees.

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The usability of our new inner cover of the hive is once again confirmed ... together with an insulating coating made from foamed polyethylene with foil to reflect heat, which can be rotated by the reflecting surface inward.

   

In addition, you can make holes in it for better acoustic contact, or put your smartphone on the lattice under it.

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THE FIRST INSPECTION OF THE FAMILIES USING APIVOX SMART MONITOR IN WINTER MODE

APIVOX SMART MONITOR https://apivox-smart-monitor.weebly.com

Today we examined all our families from the upper part of the hive, without taking the frames off the body-box. The main goal was to understand how and where the winter cluster is formed ...

After this inspection, which cooled the nests of the bees and greatly disturbed them, the Apivox Smart Monitor app was used to check the general state of the bees and to assess the presence of open brood in the nest. We used the General State Control mode in winter variant and the Brood Control Mode.

Beehive E-1. According to the first screenshot, after an external examination at a temperature of + 7C, the bees began emergency heating of the nest. At the same time, there are usual in-hive works. The second screenshot explains, why such a strong heating was required - there is still an open brood in the nest. The graph is high enough in the red zone. Apparently, a large number of bees in the hive allows to continue to grow brood, although in significantly smaller volumes. This is the reason why the free fall of the mites is  still does not subside.






Beehive 8-1. According to the first screenshot, we very much bothered the bees of this family. The excitation signal is very strong. But overall state of the family is normal. Emergency heating is not required. This indicates a high probability of the absence of an open brood. The family is engaged in its internal affairs. The second screenshot shows that there is no open brood or very few. The chart is in the white zone, although not very deep.

Beehive 5-1. According to the first screenshot, the family is disturbed  and chilled. There is emergency heating. But it is not very strong. In-hive works are proceeding as usual. The second screenshot may explain the reason for the emergency heating. The family seems to have small leftovers of an open brood. The chart sometimes goes into the red zone, although quite a bit.

Beehive E-2. The first screenshot shows that the family was disturbed. There is excitement of bees. And there is also an emergency heating of small power. Bees restore thermal conditions in the nest. According to the second screenshot, there is no open brood or there are minor residues. The chart does not leave the white zone, although sometimes it approaches to a zero mark.

Beehive 5-2. The first screenshot shows that the bees have already calmed down and are in normal condition. The second screenshot shows that with a high degree of probability there is no open brood in the family. The chart is completely in the white zone, but the pulsation of the chart is noticeable. This can indicates the possibility of the care on open brood, but of very insignificant force.

Beehive 8-2. The first screenshot indicates that the family is in good condition. Activity is not high, but they do not use the emergency heating. The second screenshot indicates that there is no open brood in the family or its number is not significant.








So, we can state that in no one family except E-1, there is most likely no brood at all, or its quantity is not significant. If it exists, it should be only the remains of sealed brood. There is no, with high probability,  an open brood. The presence of brood in E-1 beehive, will for some time, provoke a free fall of Varroa mites, which can still multiply in the remaining brood.

I would like to note the work of the new type of inner cover. So far, its  work can be considered successful. Due to the plastic lattice with gaps of 2-3 mm, normaly used for collecting of propolis, our inner cover makes it easy to carry out acoustic control of bees, although the light somewhat interferes with them, to carry out visual control of wintering bees without opening the hive, and then, if necessary, during frosts, will allow you to put a pillow of moss on top of it to remove metabolic moisture, which can condense at the top of the hive ...

   
It should be noted that the lattice is about 2 cm above the frames and the bees do not close the holes with propolis. We are also integrated a wired microphone into the middle of inner cover, which allows us to control bees in winter and summer without lifting the roof of the hive.

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Personal inspection confirms results of diagnostic, made by Apivox Smart Monitor

Personal inspection confirms results of diagnostic, made by of Apivox Smart Monitor
APIVOX SMART MONITOR https://apivox-smart-monitor.weebly.com

Yesterday we, once more time, checked the correspondence between the acoustic signals, which accompany brood care, using Brood Control mode of Apivox Smart Monitor, and real presence and quantity of open brood in the families of our experimental apiary...

Family E-1 ( this family lives in the hive of our new design, the goal of which to eliminate Varroa mites in the family)
         
Pay attention to this group of screenshots.. Here is clearly seen that in the middle of the day the bees were actively working (1.1, 1.2),  the bees  paid very few attention to the brood care. By evening, the work had weakened, and the volume of brood care had relatively increased (2.1, 2.2)  and was almost equal in strength, to the rest of the hive works. The last chart, obtained late at night (3.0), shows that  all in-hive works has weakened, and open brood care has become priority work in the family. But, accorfing to our chart, we can say,  that there is not a lot of open brood in this family. The chart is close to zero line...

Family E-2

In the hive E-2, the situation is somewhat different. Open brood care signals are not visible at all ....

In screenshot 1.1 it can be seen that the bees are quite active in collecting honey. Screenshot 1.2 says, that there is very few works on open brood care. Other in-hive works prevail. And indeed it is. Inspection of the family showed the presence of approximately 3 frames with sealed brood, and almost complete absence of an open brood. That is why the signals of open brood care are so small, or completely absent during daytime.

Family 5-1

Screenshot 1.1 taken at the beginning of the evening suggests, that the family should have an open brood. When examining the family, at first, it seemed that there was no brood at all.... This is clearly visible in picture 2.1. But the graph spoke about completely different situation... This is why, we took a couple of shots quite close, and afterwards, on the computer, at high magnification, we saw that our device did not make a mistake !!!!!  Open brood is really exist !!!! Pictures 2.2. and 2.3 clearly confirm this. Although there is not a lot of cells with open brood  and the eggs and young larvae are not yet easily noticeable, but they are exists! Apivox Smart Monitor was right, as usual !!!

Family 5-2
Thease two charts were received at different time. One of them was received in the afternoon, when the bees worked actively, collecting honey, and the second - late in the evening. Diagram 1.1 shows, that there are times when work is maximized, and there are times when brood care appears in the family, but its strength is not enough to become the main work in the hive. Late in the evening, when the bees no longer fly for honey, the work on open brood care periodically become the main work in the hive. Diagram 1.2 shows this quite obviously. Everything speaks for the fact, that the family has an open brood but its emount is not very high...

Personal control of the hive showed, that there was a certain amount of sealed brood on 1 frame, and a rather large amount of open brood, on two more frames. There was found eggs and larvae... This perfectly confirms the readings of our device Apivox Smart Monitor.

Family 8-1

Despite the late evening hours, there are no any signs of open brood care. Thermometers are also recorded very low temperatures in the hive. Most likely there is no brood in the family. Personal inspection was not carried out.

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