Most of what I will call the Australian bush will produce nectar better in warm and humid weather on a blue sky, From those that are more learned than I have said that nectar is found on some species of trees in the mornings and others later in the day from bee foraging observations.
Hope that goes some way to answer your question.
Regards
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I didnât reply because I assumed this question was not addressed to me, given that I wasnât the original poster. Then I worried that you might think that I was being rude by not answering, and that wasnât my intent.
In the interest of not dominating a thread, I will keep my answer short (well, as short as I am able to, given my long-winded tendencies). The software for my scale comes from the scale supplier, Arnia. I chose the Arnia hive monitor for several reasons:
- The user interface is very easy to understand and very powerful. It is web-based, so you can use it on any device (desktop, laptop, tablet or phone)
- The scale sends data via a mobile data (cellphone connection), which means that hives out of WiFi range can still be monitored. Arnia supplies the data service, and it is much cheaper than most US-based mobile data subscriptions. Many scales use a bluetooth connection to a smart phone, but I wanted to be able to monitor when I am traveling. Bluetooth obviously wouldnât let me do that. I chose the Arnia so that I can get my mentor to rescue a blown over hive or other big disaster before my neighbors get upset.
- My husband wanted the acoustic data. Only Arnia supplied the type of data he wanted. We actually donât really use it, but he is fascinated by it.
- One of the major cons is that the batteries only last about 3 months. This is countered by the the fact that the data box is outside the hive, so you donât have to disturb the bees to replace them.
I just like seeing how much honey they are gathering. At the moment, it is about 400g per day (less on overcast days, and less when it hasnât rained for a few weeks). Although we do inspect regularly, it is a nice reassurance that they have sufficient space for storage if we are about to travel. For example, we added the Flow super in about mid-March this year. The weight dropped for a while, because the super had 3 previously used Flow frames (waxed) and 3 unused. The hive seems to lose weight, even during a flow, if there is a lot of wax production going on.
Since adding the super, the bees have added about 12.5kg of weight to the hive. Some of that will be in the brood box (probably about 3kg from inspecting), but most of it is in the super. From our harvest last year, I know that our Flow super holds about 20kg of honey when full. So in another 8-10kg or so, we need to harvest or add another box, particularly if we are going to travel.
I love having that much extra information to help with making decisions.
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Hi Peter,
Lost my password for a day!
Looks like Dawn has picked up the slack though (thank you). my reasons are similar to Dawnâs for getting the scales put in place. I find I am opening up the hive a little less (being a newbee, I like to have a peek any chance I get) which is good for the bees.
My system (Broodminder) is fairly cheap and, as always, you kinda pay for what you get. Having said that, they are fine for picking up weight increases over time if you trend the data and donât get to bent out of shape about each reading on any particular day. Arnia looks more reliable to me but it costs more so the choice is yours.
My hive weight is about 63kg at the moment I know when it gets to 65-70kg the frames will be ready to crack.
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The spiking issue mentioned on my initial post was definitely the sun hitting the scales, which I have fixed now.
Thanks for the comments on the nectar flow as well. I have only recently just realised (perhaps this was obvious to all but me) that to get a bit of a flow sometimes a good hit of rain is required.
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How interesting. Thanks for sharing your experience @Dawn_SD. I put my Arnia hive scales under 2 hives mid Feb and wondered why one hive kept loosing weight. They just had their new flow super put on, but kept as busy as the hive next to it. That one added weight. I assumed they used their honey for wax lining the flow cells. And they had a spot of chalkbrood too, so I wasnât sure what the weight was indicating.
Nice to compare notes.
Tomorrow I will fit out more hives with Arnia equipment. I like comparing my different queens. Bit nerdy perhaps, but I love graphs. One doesnât need a reason for a hobby.
Being able to observe the hives while traveling is a grand bonus.
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Thanks for explaining that so well Dawn, it is fascinating and so much technology has come into the industry since I last had bees. I put the question in for anyone to answer so as to get a spread of explanations and ideas. Thanks again for yours.
Regards.
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I was looking through old threads to see what kind of daily weight gains are expected in the spring. I am measuring the hive weight manually, not with a automated scale and have noticed that my backyard hive has gained 2.2 and 2.3kg in the last two days respectively.
I am trying to take the measurements at the same time (around 4pm) with similar (good weather) conditions to control for intraday and day-to-day fluctuations
Wow, that is a lot! Must have a good nectar flow right now. 
Maples apparently. But rarely nice enough flying weather this time of year for the bees to take advantage.
I opened up half the entrance because it seemed extremely crowded, even though most people advised against it in mid-March⌠there was still snow on the ground a week before.
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Iâm thinking that during the spring buildup, some of the extra weight could be on account of extra brood.
It would be interesting to take a reading late in the day while a lot of unripe honey present, then another one first thing in the morning after a night of dewatering has occurred.
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While that is certainly true, brood weight doesnât come out of thin air.
All brood has to created from existing hive weight, including honey, pollen, royal jelly, wax etc. So the hive is still gathering huge amounts of resources to make that kind of weight gain! Bees never cease to amaze me. 
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I agree Dawn, I just thought Iâd mention that in case people think that all the extra weight is honey.
Bees amaze me also, especially during spring, to see how fast a colony can build up. Or even rebuild after a decent sized split has been removed.
I had a chuckle after recently reading someone is looking forward to a spring honey flow.
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Iâd find the acoustic data interesting too! I was looking at Arnia awhile back and was impressed with their user interface. Iâd like to have a scale, temperature, humidity, and sound. Itâs pretty geeky, but so interesting! I would totally love it â except for the monthly subscription. But I could unsubscribe to a few newspapers I donât read and probably come out even.
My largest signle day increase this year was 2.8kg. I had over a month with 1.5kg/day/hive.
A friend had 4.5kg/hive/day on a tuart site, which lasted 7-10days. He ran out of room and Iâm interest to see if this will resume when the new supers are built out and we get a comparable temperature window.
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