Once again, I would like to
repeat how to work correctly with Apivox Smart Monitor app.
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Friday, May 15, 2020
Thursday, May 14, 2020
Swarming Control mode - season is new , success is the same !
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
INTEGRATED CONTROL OF ALL FAMILIES OF EXPERIMENTAL APIARY May 11, 2020
Wonderful
warm day. Temperature is about + 20C. Bees fly great. Dandelion is blooming and
the bees are working at full strength. And all the families!
Beehive E-1
day
The signal
level is not high and there is a signal in the field of excitation 500-550Hz. This
is usually due to very active bees' flights. Even when we make control from the
upper parts of the frames, the noise of the wings from a large number of
forager bees is heard. Therefore, we can say, that the diagnosis showed a
slightly underestimated picture. But it is clear, that the family have working
state. There is work with brought honey,
and there is heating of the nest. As we know, in this hive, a drone brood has
already been laid on the extreme frame. In Readiness for Honey Collection
mode, the device shows, that it is
possible to receive surplus honey, but a lot of it is used for the needs of the
family. The line is not far from the zero mark. In Brood Control mode, the
device shows the absence of a significant number of works on caring for open
brood. This is usually normal for daytime.
evening
In the
evening, the picture has changed. Today was the day of active work on honey
collection. The swarming mood subsided,
in-hive work became more active. Work with honey subsided. Apparently,
there was brought not too much nectar. Most of it was used for the needs of the
family. This can be also seen in the
diagnostics with the use of Readiness for Honey Collection mode. The chart is
almost on the zero line, although it is white. This suggests, that not much
honey left for storage ... diagnostics in the Brood Control mode showed, that
the bees were finally engaged in brood maintenance. And quite active. There are
many brood, and during the day the work shifted to the area of processing of
brought nectar. Night is the best time to work with brood. In general, the
family is close to the swarming state. A significant amount of brood
dramatically reduces its honey
production, at this stage.
Beehive 8-1
day
Daytime
monitoring of this family showed a very strong work, consisting of both in-hive
work and work on the processing of brought nectar. But, the strength of the in-hive
works is higher, and the diagnosis primarily speaks about them. Diagnostics in
Readiness for Honey Collection mode, shows the maximum degree of possibility of
obtaining marketable honey. The power of honey processing is very high.
evening
Evening
control showed that spring honey collection does not allow the swarming state
to form... General State Control mode shows a decrease in the overall strength
of the work. There is some aeration and ventilation of the hive. Diagnosis of
bees' family using the Readiness for Honey Collection mode showed a significant
decrease in bee activity in processing of brought nectar. Apparently, not so
much nectar was brought that it was possible to work with it in the evening too.
Diagnostics using Brood Control mode showed, that in the evening the bees
started to care for the brood. But the work is not strong... the schedule is
red, but it is not far from the zero line. In general, the family is strong and
able to use honey collection.
Beehive 5-1
day
Daytime monitoring
of this family in the General State Control mode showed, that the family is
mostly engaged in in-hive works. Brought nectar is mostly used for the needs of
the family. We can see the presence of excitement. Unfortunately, this family
had to delete the ants who were going to build a nest in the insulation
material. Diagnosis of a family in Readiness for Honey Collection mode confirms
that the family is not ready to give
marketable honey. The graph is white, but it fluctuates near the zero line.
evening
Evening
diagnosis has changed a bit. In-hive works are remained approximately of the
same strength. The main feature - is the growth of force of open brood care
signal. This can be seen in the diagram. Diagnosis of the family in Swarming
Control mode shows, that soon, the family can approach the borderline state and
can show the beginning of swarming state. But it’s too early to worry about it.
In general, the family is strong enough.
Beehive 5-2
Day
In the
afternoon, diagnostics of the family using General State Control mode showed,
that the family, although is not very active, but is in working state. At the
same time, the main works are shifted to the area of in-hive works. There is
some excitement. The reason is the same .. We had to delete ants who tried to
build a nest in the insulating material of the hive. Diagnostics using
Readiness for Honey Collection mode indicates, that there is no hope for
marketable honey, all nectar goes for feeding the family.
evening
Evening
diagnostics showed us, that by the evening, the bees were able to satisfy the
family's first needs for nectar, and despite the prevalence of in-hive works,
the family have quite strong works on nectar processing and on brood care. The
same is confirmed by more narrowly specialized modes. The Readiness for Honey
Collection mode shows us a white, but
close enough to zero line chart. Brood Control mode shows us a red chart. The
care for brood is of medium strength. In general, it is clear that the family
is gaining strength for swarming and for honey collection.
Beehive 8-2
day
Daytime
monitoring of the family shows the following ... Diagnostics in General State
Control mode shows a very active work of the family, including the processing
of brought nectar. This is also indicated by diagnostics in Readiness for Honey
Collection mode - the family has a lot of work related to the processing of
nectar, which for the most part will be stored in honey frames.
evening
Evening
diagnosis showed a lack of swarming mood. Both arrows are in the green zone. Diagnostics in General
State Control mode showed, that the overall strength of work in the evening
decreased. Diagnostics in Brood Control mode shows, that there are practically
no brood in the family. The graph is white and far from the zero line. It is
correct. There is no queen in this hive, capable of laying eggs. In this
family, we are growing new queen, instead of the removed, due to the damage,
one. There is practically no brood, the young queen should already have left
its cell, but it is hardly ready to lay eggs. In general, the family restores
the shape, lost due to the problems with old queen ...
You can buy the app Apivox Smart Monitor on our web page
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Saturday, May 9, 2020
THE MAIN REASON OF NOT CORRECT MEASUREMENTS when you use Apivox Smart Monitor
In
order to understand the essence of the question, let us repeat once again the
statements of authoritative scientists about these two types of sounds made by
the bees:
The
signals emitted by the wings of bees are in the range of about 70–250 Hz. And this signals, emitted by the wings, have
peculiarities, associated with the biological structure of the wings. Let's
refer to the classic book of Langstrott - "The Bee and the Hive" ...
"The musculature of
the honeybee wing consists of indirect muscles that are not connected with the
base of the wing and the rectus muscles, connected to its base. Indirect muscles
play a major role during flight. Their volume is very large, and they fill almost all chest cavity. One type of
indirect muscles, is attached from the
inside to the skeleton of the thoracic region in the dorsal-ventral direction.
These are vertical muscles. Other type, is located in the longitudinal
direction. When contraction of the vertical muscles, the mesonotum is lowered,
flattened, presses against the base of the wing, and the wing rises upward.
With subsequent relaxation of vertical muscles and contraction of the
longitudinal muscles, wings descend, and the mesonotum rises and becomes convex
again. Change of contractions of the vertical and longitudinal muscles occurs
very quickly: the frequency of wing strokes can be 200–250 per second...
...These
high-frequency muscles constitute the most active of all contractile tissues,
that have ever appeared in animals, in the process of evolution. Nervous
centers do not send motor impulses to the muscles of the wings in such a high
rhythm. This rhythm exceeds the rate of electrical processes on the surface of
the cell membrane. The muscles of the wing come to the state of contractions by
themselves, under the action of stretching. They work on the principle of a
resonating system, the frequency of their compactions is determined by the
degree of their tension..."
Here
is the phrase, which is so important to us! ... "The resonant system"
... This means, that we get the classical oscillatory mechanism, operating
according to the classical laws of physics. And this is the main characteristic
of the signals, generated by the wings - aeration, ventilation, flight.
That
is why, signals of the wings except the main tone, create an overtones multiple
to the main tone - x2, x3 ... and \ 2, \ 3...
and all subsequent .....
What
do we know about the sounds, created by the vibration of the bee's thorax ...
"... The process of functioning of
the muscles of indirect action, when bees make sounds , differs significantly from the process of functioning of these muscles,
during the flight ... (Esch and Goller, 1991; King et al., 1996) It is believed that during the production of
( vibro-acoustical) signal, the uneven shortening of antagonistic muscles of
indirect action and the associated closure of the slit of scutellum, which cause the change of vibration characteristics of bee's
thorax in such a way, that the "flight system" of the bee vibrates at
a higher frequency (King et al., 1996). ... . "
Exactly this was fixated, in the process of our research! Vibro-acoustical
signals, generated by the bee thorax, do not have the correct classical
harmonics around the main signal. Rather, the true signals emitted by the bees,
are the signal of the fundamental frequency ( main tone) and the “wings”. This "wings" can always be visible
on diagram with one and the same parameters — the basic tone, +1\2 of main tone, + 2\2, + 3\2 of main tone and so on .... and
-1\2 of main tone, -2\2, -3\2 of
main tone and so on .... for each subsequent.
These characteristics of the two
signals allow a person, who understands their nature, to see difference between
real communicational signal of the bee and ventilation, in case of their simultaneous appearance on
the screen. After all, the range of bees' signals is very narrow, and the
imposition of signals and their "harmonics" occurs constantly. (In
this case, we will call the “harmonics”, for simplicity, both types of
additional signals appearing around the main signal.). Let's have a look at examples....
The
first situation is quite common in the summer time, the second is more
characteristic for winter and for autumn.
The
third combination, is the most unpleasant of all. Such a picture arises, if the
microphone ( wired or internal) is not in the depth of the hive, but on the
porch of the hive, when recording or measuring.
At the same time there is a strong honey collection, and the family of
bees is also strong enough. A lot of bees arrive to the porch at the same time,
and in the entrance there are many bees ventilating the hive. In this case, the
signals of work are very poorly distinguishable. This situation is the error of
the person, who is taking the measurements, as the work signals are completely
suppressed, and diagnosis will be very far from reality.
Unusual result of apiary control in early May.
The weather
on this day was very warm all the first half of the day, it was about + 20С.
The bees of all the families flew very well... The flights of the bees from E-1 beehive was
so strong, that it seemed like it was a flyby! In front of the porch constantly
hung a cloud of arriving and departing bees. Based on external signs, one could
say that families can get marketable honey in the spring. But is it...
From that
plants the bees collected nectar was not entirely clear. Dandelion bloomed, but
the willow ceased to bloom ... Gardens started to bloome only in the hot sunny
places.
We decided
to check, how the external impression corresponds to the real state of the
bees. Therefore, a detailed monitoring of the condition of all families was
carried out in order to obtain general information about each family. For this,
the following modes were used - General State Monitoring mode, Swarming Control
mode, Readiness for Honey Collection mode, and Brood Control mode. The
combination of these modes made it possible to understand the state of each
family and compare them with each other.
The family
in experimental hive E-1
The first
control was carried out at 11-30 in the midst of the work of bees. Monitoring of the general state showed, that
the family was in working condition, but there was a powerful signal of heating
of the nest in the daytime! This forced us to use Apivox Smart Monitor in
Swarming Control mode. Swarming control
showed, that the family is in the process of preparing for swarming. Powerful
heating of the entire hive suggests, that the bees are preparing space for the
queen in order she could lay eggs in the entire hive, including drone eggs on
the farthest from the nest frames.
Control in
the evening showed, that in the family still prevailing in-hive works, not
related to the processing of honey. There was an open brood heating too. The
monitoring in Readiness for Honey Collection mode confirmed the absence of
works on processing of honey. Check using Brood Control mode confirmed, that
there is an active heating of open brood. Moreover, the red graph is far from
the zero line, which indicates the predominance of this work in the hive.
Visual
control of the family with the dismantling of the nest showed the presence of
queen cups on frames 2 and 10 (a total quantity - 11 frames) and the presence
of drone eggs on the 11th frame. The queen was discovered on this frame too!
All signs of preparation for swarming, which should occur in about 2 weeks.
Thus,
instrumental control fully confirmed the real state of the family!
The family
in the hive 8-1
Daytime
monitoring of the state of the family and the possibility of swarming showed,
that the family is in working state. The work is strong and the the bees could
bringing honey.We could see some signals, telling us about processing of
honey. But in-hive works still prevails.
One can not think about swarming in the coming week. The arrows are far from the red zone ... The
device shows that swarming is unlikely.
Evening
control showed, that the set of works performed by bees has not changed. Only
the strength of these works decreased. Apparently part of the bees that worked
during the day, have a rest now ...
Control in the Readiness for Honey Collection mode
showed, that the state of the family is approximately borderline, and if there
will be good honey harvest, then the bees can get marketable honey, since it is
not too much in-hive works in the family, and most of the bees could work on
honey collection.
Check using
Brood Control mode showed, that the number of open brood is not too large. The
graph is near the zero line. With this amount and composition of brood,
swarming is really far away. In general, the composition of work in the family
and the composition of the brood confirm the testimony of the device, that the
swarming state is not yet expected.
The family
in the hive 5-1
The check
at day time was not very successful, since the bees were excited after we
destroyed the ants who wanted to create a nest in the hive insulation. This can
be seen in the screenshot. Most of the bees stopped working ... But in general,
the bees have working state, although
they are not very active,
Сontrol of
possibility of close swarming showed, that the probability of swarming is quite
low.
Evening
control confirmed the working condition of the family. Moreover, it can be
seen, that periodically the bees are ventilating beehive, removing moisture
from nectar. Moreover, according to the testimony of the device, with this work
are occupied most of the bees in this
hive. A check using Readiness for Honey Collection mode also speaks about this
... Periodic shift of the schedule to the white zone indicates, that there
exists work on honey processing. This means, that there is some excess of it,
which the bees will not eat, but will put in storage in a honeycombs.
Control of
the family using Brood Control mode
shows, that the number of open brood is insignificant. The graph, although red,
but it is near the zero line.
The
family in the hive 5-2
During
daytime, the family worked at honey collection, but not too actively. Most of
the bees were engaged in in-hive works. Swarming control showed a complete lack
of swarm probability. The evening data did not differ too much. The family is
in working condition, there are no jobs related to honey processing at all. The
family is not ready for honey collection. All the efforts are spent on the
family’s internal affairs.
The
family in the hive 8-2
In the
family 8-2 there is no queen. It contains one frame with brood and still have
capped and open queen cells. Therefore, in the daytime, the family worked very
actively on honey collection. The strength of the work is very high at the time
of measurement. But the graph in
Readiness for Honey Collection mode suggests, that this is a periodic
phenomenon as a whole, the graph indicates that the most of the bees are
occupied by in-hive works. Apparently, active work on honey procession
occurs sporadically.
In the
evening, the intensity of works decreased and in-hive works became the main .
At the same time, the brood care signal is strong enough. This always happens
in a family in which there are open and closed queen cells. They are
given special attention!
Tuesday, May 5, 2020
Making new beehives Apivox Varroa Eliminator on the balcony during Coronavirus pandemic
And what else remains to be done on self-isolation when there is no way to go to the apiary! ??
It remains to make hives of a new design Apivox Varroa Eliminator on the balcony :)))
To simplify the work, I use a furniture panel of different sizes. It has an almost perfect finish and I need minimum efforts to make body-boxes and supers from it ... I do not use the connection in a tenon, but simply assemble the boards on the screws... Framing with a rail imitates a tenon-groove connection. In this way in Spain they make beehives intended for transportation ( colmena trahsumante)... At the same time, wire fastenings is made on the sides, which connect sectional elements of the beehive to each other ...
To begin with, we cover the outer surface of all wooden elements with boiled linseed oil. This will protect wood from getting wet. The second layer can be made with oil paint of any desired color ....
Despite the fact, that professionals no longer carry out control of the mite drop, but simply poison it, togeter with bees and honey consumers, twice a year, we continue to support the method of controlling the quantity of the mites population in the family based on counting the free fall of the mites. Therefore, we equip the bottom with a grid and a white plastic tray, in order to make it easier to count falling mites. By the way, for this, we use white plastic wall panels ... They are very cheap and easy to cut with just a knife ...
Here you can see a new type of inner cover, which allows acoustic control and visual control without opening the hive and without disturbing the bees. In addition, during transportation, this is a ready-made device for ventilation of the hive ...
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