A fun exercise? Help analyze this data

At the first data point I added 2.5# of syrup in a baggie method feeder. This morning or possibly yesterday some time all of the syrup is gone. So by my analysis the bees have eaten approx 3/4# of syrup and stored approx a 1.75# in the comb and/or converted it into actual wax. There should also be some weight gain due to larvae but I won’t know that until Friday.

I will be cracking the hive open on Friday to do a 1 week inspection, but I want to form some opinions about what I am seeing to see if I am correct when I look at it.

Anyone care to throw out some opinions or hypothesis as to what this data means?

@adagna

I will say it is very interesting. What application is that? I see that you have the hive weight and temperature data. How are you collecting that info? I am a tech junkie so it definitely has perked my interest!

I have a SolutionBee hive scale on the the hive. So it collects ambient air temp and the hive weight every 15 mins, and stores the information. Then I collect the info on my cell phone and upload it to the cloud where I can look at it on the computer or I can look at it in the app as well. This is a screen capture of the web app on the computer.

Looked at the website. http://solutionbee.com/?page_id=145#1445768524630-b1b5fb79-54e1

Definitely very cool. Think I give myself a year first before I would look at getting something like this. It would also get spendy if you had one of these on multiple hives.

OK. LOVE this. (My nickname is “gadget girl”).

And it reminds me of a local business plan competition winner…

http://bizwest.com/hivetech-takes-top-prize-cu-new-venture-challenge/

mbeeee

I have been obsessed with looking at this information lol.

One thing I have noticed is that the largest dip in weight for the day happens when the temp reaches 70 F +/-1F. And the largest weight gain peaks during the peak of the hottest part of the day. Then a second dip from that point. So it appears at least with my hive that there are two major coordinated foraging trips per day.

So based on my observations of the weight of the hive I waited to do my inspection this morning until it was at least 70 F outside so I could guarantee that the most number of bees were in the field rather then still at home.

I did find the queen during my inspection but I didn’t go out of my way to find her, I guess doing all those queen finding picture exercises paid off lol :wink:

There were eggs, and larvae. At best guess from looking at pictures I would say the oldest were around 5-6 days old. They were fairly large but still curled in the C-shape. Does that sound about right to everyone else?

There were somewhat limited stores of nectar or stored syrup, and not as much pollen as I was expecting so more then I anticipated is being used to rear the brood. There are still good amounts of pollen coming in so my debate is whether to give them one more run of syrup. I’m thinking I may give them one more quart of syrup to help get the comb drawn as quickly as possible so the queen has plenty of space to lay. There were 2 frames that were approx 3/4 drawn each on both sides, and 2 frames that were about half drawn on the side nearest the center, and then very minimal comb on 2 more out from that. The two most outward frames had no comb drawn which is what I was expecting. I was actually not expecting to see any comb built on the second frames in from the edge but there was some so that was good to see.

I had intended to get pictures but I don’t know how you guys handle the camera and the hive at the same time, maybe after I get a few more inspections under my belt. It was a bit windy here today too so I didn’t want to risk chilling the brood(not sure what temp you really have to start worrying about that as much).

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They get capped at about 8 days, so it sounds more or less right, yes. :smile:

It is a tricky balance though, yes the syrup helps with comb, but if you don’t have enough comb builders, they will store it in the cells they have already built and deprive the queen of space for laying. If it was me, I would give them one more baggie, but look in the hive when they have emptied the baggie. If they are storing it all and not leaving queenie much space, I would stop feeding them. You need those new hatchlings to keep up the comb-building.

I have a cheap iPhone tripod and a bluetooth remote. Then you just have to know where to hold the frame when you press the remote button. It isn’t easy to do it solo - better to look after your bees. However, if you have the tripod and phone, you can run a video, then you only have to press the button twice - start video then stop video when you are done. I haven’t learned how to edit videos yet, so I am not posting mine. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I did put 2# of 1:1 syrup on, given that they had stored very little of the last batch I think I will be safe, and I won’t add any more before checking again. I’ll compare the weight data from the last batch of syrup to the results of this batch and see if I can pull out some similarities.

I’ve been looking into a gopro perhaps, My girls really want to see them inside the hive and on the frames and that would be an easy and safe way for them to participate at first. But maybe a tripod for my cell phone is the way to go for now.

Adam, you are SUCH a geek ; -)