Beekeepers sum up the wintering of their bees. Depending on the region, they observe the first flights of their bees and conduct spring inspections of apiaries; they plan to place hives with bee families at points if their territories have already been cleared of snow.
We hope that for most beekeepers the wintering of their bee colonies was successful and without losses.
With the end of winter, the next stage of testing, which was carried out with the participation of several respected and well-known beekeepers from different regions of Russia, also ended for the Apipulse System for Integrated Monitoring of the Condition of Bee Colonies.
With their help, it was possible to identify some vulnerabilities of the System, find, evaluate and implement new solutions.
Our company is very grateful to these enthusiasts. With their expert help, it was possible to find several successful solutions that turned out to be more technically effective and less disturbing to bee colonies.
In particular, at the request of the beekeepers who helped us in testing, at the end of last year apiary scales of a special design were designed and produced, which allows you to quickly and easily rearrange them from one hive to another by one person.
But the Apipulse System also helped beekeepers feel confident about their bees during the winter, because they knew and controlled all the parameters of the condition of their bees. They had access to readings of the temperature and humidity inside the hive, and using the application, they could listen to how their bees sounded. According to the graphs in the Apipulse application, it was clear how the club moved inside the hive and it was easy to track the increase in temperature, which could lead to early brood; it was clear which hives had stronger families - these families confidently maintained the microclimate inside the hive, regardless of the external temperature.
Last week, our representatives visited one of our testers in Pereslavl-Zalessky, Benjamin Forster.
Benjamin Forster is a Russian Swiss, beekeeper, farmer, popularizer of eco-tourism, founder of a beekeeping school.
All winter we were constantly in touch with Benjamin, but we hadn’t seen each other since the fall, so the meeting was interesting and fruitful. What we managed to do:
Benjamin's bees live in hives of his own design, inspired by European traditions. Benjamin told us about European beekeeping technologies, which he himself adheres to, and we discussed with him the features of using the Apipulse System in this context.
We installed a modified version of the Apipulse System apiary scales under one of the hives.
We drank aromatic fireweed tea and also tasted Oxymel. This is a drink that Benjamin prepares using his own high-quality honey and sage, which he also grows himself. The drink is outstanding, very tasty and refreshing.