Thursday, March 4, 2021

NEW MODEL OF OBSERVATIONAL BEEHIVE DESIGNED BY APIVOX PROJECT TEAM.

For the use in our experimental apiary, we have developed an observational hive that allows us to carry out experiments on control of parameters of vital activity of the bees using small families.


Unlike older models, this hive is completely demountable like all standard models of the hives. This became possible due to the use of a rather expensive material - synthetic glass 4mm thick. The rest of the material is a pine scantling. The weight of the hive is about 4 kg.

The new hive of the Apivox project, as well as all other hives of our project, has a hygienic bottom with a net and a sticky board for counting the number of Varroa mites falling down from the bees during the life of bee family and development of the mites population. The bottom is detachable and replaceable.


A separate window in the side wall allows you to remove the sticky board without disturbing the bees and to count mites and to clean the board. To do this, you do not need to remove the main shields that cover the hive body from light. All removable elements of the hive are attached with niodimum magnets. This allows them to be removed and replaced quickly and without special tools. The porch is closed by a door, which allows transporting bees or simply limiting their flight.




The hive body has a standard size for 1 frame of any type - Dadan or Ruth or Langstrott.  There are 4 barred ventilation holes in the body-box, allowing you to easily transport or carry bees in this hive or to restrict their flight for a long time. The frame is inserted into the body from above. The body is placed on the bottom and fixed with special eccentric ties.


In standard version, the hive has 1 body. If desired, the hive can be completed with an additional body-box and / or a honey super.

 Inner cover and the roof are assembled into a single structure giving the hive additional rigidity.  There are barred openings in inner cover, which together with opened upper plug provide additional ventilation during transportation.



But the main purpose of these holes and the upper plug in the roof is to provide easy access for acoustic control of the family. In fact, this is a hole for a smartphone on which the Apivox Smart Monitor application is installed, which allows you to monitor the state of bees without opening the hive.

 




This construction is also equipped with eccentric ties, which allows the entire observation hive to be held together into a single rigid structure. There is a handle on the roof, for which the observation hive is easy to carry. Naturally, all transparent elements of the hive are covered with shields made of painted hardboard with a thickness of 3 mm. which, together with plexiglass, gives a wall thickness of about 8 mm. which is quite enough for summer time.

 In winter, the hive can be additionally insulated with sheets of foamed polyethylene. During winter of 20-21, packeges of the bees  purchased by us for the experimental apiary overwintered in such boxes. The wintering was successful. All the bees survived the winter.

This type of hive will be produced in limited quantities for our experimental apiary, for beekeeping courses, for acoustic control courses, for amateur beekeepers, as well as in a simplified version for queens rearing farms. The use of such a hive in scientific and educational processes will improve the visibility of the operations performed to control Varroa mites and during the usage of the method of acoustic control, and will also allow, like all previous models, to observe the life of bees.

 For queen breeders, such a simple one-frame hive will exclude additional difficulties with the maintenance of small-sized hives and their special frames used for mating of young queens. The transparent walls of the hive will allow you to quickly monitor the state of the queen and the beginning of oviposition. This design of the hive can be ordered not with the full-sise frame, but with a  half-frame, which will make the hive even cheaper.

 


Estimated price of a  observational hive with one body-box:

Ø      In the educational version - it will be for the USA with delivery - $ 150,

Ø      The variant for queen breeders (full frame, without glass) -  For the USA with delivery - $ 60.

Ø      The variant for queen breeders (full frame, with thin glass) - For the USA with delivery - $ 80.

Ø      The variant for queen breeders (half-frame, without glass) - For the USA with delivery - $ 50

Ø      The variant for queen breeders (half-frame, with thin glass) - For the USA with delivery - $ 65

 For other countries we can calculate the price and delivery price on request.

You can additionally order elements to the standard version with artificial glass 4 mm thick. :

Ø      Separate bottom

Ø      Separate body-box for Dadant frame

Ø      Separate body-box  for half-frame

Ø      Separate body-box  for Ruth frame

Ø      Separate body-box  for Langstrott frame

 

If you want to order Apivx Observational Beehive, please contact us using email      glebskij@gmail.com






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