How i plan to answer my questions using sensors?

Introduction

At this state these are just thoughts and theories on how i will answer the questions i have posed.

My questions

• Are my bees healthy?
• Is my colony strong/growing?
• Are my bees starving or struggling to find a food source?
• Have my bees swarmed?
• Is there any honey for me to harvest?

What sensors do i plan to use on each Beehive?

Combined Temperature and Humidity Sensor

I plan to install this into the inside of my brood box, set into the wall of my hive.  This will tell me the humidity and temperature inside the brood box.

Waterproof Temperature Sensor

This will go outside the hive so that i can measure the ambient temperature around the Beehive.

Half Bridge Resistance Sensors

These will be used to create a set of scales that the Beehive will permanently rest on, i plan to install them between hive stand and the open mesh floor of the hive.

Miniture Reflective Object Sensors

These will be used in pairs to allow me to count bees in and out of the hive entrance, these will create the largest set of data, and are also the most complicated part of what i plan to do, my initial estimates are that i will need  about 46 of these per hive, which will give me 23 slots for bees to pass through single file to get in and out of the hive.  I will go through the concept of the bee counter in a later post.

How the sensors will help me answer my questions?

Is my colony strong/growing?

My theory here is to use two of the sensors listed above this to measure how healthy my colony is, this will give me an indicator.  The sensors i plan to use are the weight of the hive, as my thoughts are that a hive that is getting heavier is a happy hive, as the bees are increasing in numbers and are actively collecting and storing food stores.  My second sensor is to use the bee counter made up of the reflective object sensors to count bees in and out of a hive, my theory here is that as a colony is getting stronger the average number of bees that leave and return to the hive on a daily basis will increase, I may also be able to measure the attrition rate of bees that leave the hive, but do not return.

Are my bees starving or struggling to find a food source?

This question came about after the funny summer that we have had this year, there seemed to be a gap between the summer flowers finishing and the autumn flowers becoming available to the bees, this meant that all of my hives suddenly started to use all of the reserves they had been collecting, which puts them at risk of starvation if they were to run out completely.  So i plan to use the scales and bee counter to answer this question again, if the number of bees entering and leaving hasn't massively changed over a given period, but the hive is getting lighter quickly, then they are probably eating their reserves, which is obviously not a great sign.

Have my bees swarmed?

This will be a simple check using the bee counter, if a massive number of bees leave the hive in a short space of time, and don't return, this could be an indication of a swarm event.  

Also i maybe able to learn swarm indicators from the behaviour of the Beehive in the days or hours leading up to the swarm that i can use in the future.

Is there any honey for me to harvest?

This will simply be based on the weight measurements from the scales.

Another question that i have been thinking about.

This is a question that i have thought about, and will be a nice to have answers to, but is secondary to my questions above.

Can i use the internal and external temperature readings for anything?

One possible scenario that i haven't had happen to me, but i know fellow beekeepers that have suffered, is woodpeckers, they tap a hole into the side of your hive and then cause havoc to your bees, often killing the colony completely and leave a nasty whole in your hive that will need repairing.  I think that i may be able to spot that this is/has happened using the temperature differential between the internal and external temperature, coupled with a sudden drop in temperature or change of humidity inside the Beehive, for those that don't know, bees are very good at controlling the internal temperature and humidity of a hive and under normal circumstances i expect this to be fairly constant.