The plan today was to add the scales and hearts to the final 4 hives to give me some hive data. The first experiment went well with the 2 hives set up and the new arrival of the 4 set-ups arrived this morning.
The weather is about to turn cold so this is the best weather window to install. The weather was warm >10 Deg C but I intended not to open any hives more than for the absolute minimum. The bees were really placid and stayed in the hives so I didn’t even have a suit.
Light Blue Wood -Station 2
This hive has been the test piece for the hive heart that I found. Unfortunately this hive heart has stopped transmitting. This primary mission for the day was to get this hive onto scales and with a new heart. There was a space station to the right of this hive that was originally on station 1. I therefore set up the scales in station 2 as shown and lifted the hive in one piece across. Not the important piece of wood that lifts the electronics up so that it is not the lowest point thus any water on the cables doesn’t run into the “Waterproof” box. The other reason for the move to Station 2 is that Station 1 doesn’t have a support on the outside which means that the wooden support for the scales electronics cannot be used.
The hive heart was placed in the feeder compartment on top so as not to open the hive to the cold. this will be moved in the spring and possibly mounted onto a frame.
Red Poly -Station 9
Despite the Green Super on top, Red poly is the hive on the right in this photo next door to Green poly. This hive is running double brood and has been all winter. I closed off the front to both this hive and Green poly, as they can be quite fiery, and prepped the bars for the scales. I managed to slide the front part of the scales and electronics through the hole at the back and lift the hive back up onto the scales. Securing it in place with the zip ties. The lift the front of the hive and slide the front part of the scales into place again securing with zip ties. A wooden support for the electronics was in place. The ideal place for the hive heart would have been between the red and green super where there should be a nice space to install but not wanting to open the hive for long I simply lifted the lid and placed the heart into the top of the hive where there were loads of bees.. This will be moved later in the spring an possibly mounted onto a frame.
Blue and Purple Wood -Stations 5 and 6
I closed off the front one at a time and prepped the bars for the scales. Lifting the back and sliding the back part of the scales in form underneath and positioned the scales. Zip ties to hold in place and repeat on the front. The hive heart was placed in teh top feeder box.This will be moved later in the spring an possibly mounted onto a frame.
This now gives me 6 hive stations set up with scales and hearts allowing me to see and compare the data. 3 poly’s 3 woods.