BroodMinder-W Wooden Hive Scale

Detailed Monitoring for Beekeeping Management

What information does the weight sensor provide?
The BroodMinder-W hive scale provides essential insights into hive activity and health:

• Nectar flow: A steady increase in hive weight indicates active nectar flow, which is valuable in spring and summer when you need to know if your bees are collecting enough resources. For example, a daily increase of 1-2 kg signals a strong flow, suggesting it's the right time to add supers and prevent overcrowding.
• Productivity: The daily weight trend shows the hive's productivity. A steady increase indicates optimal foraging, while a decrease may signal internal or environmental issues that require inspection.
• Swarm detection: The scale can identify swarming by recording sudden drops in weight. If there’s a significant decrease, it’s likely that a swarm has left the hive, allowing you to act quickly to prevent further losses.
• Seasonal hive evolution: Accumulated weight readings provide insights into how the colony is progressing through seasonal changes, such as from winter to spring or from summer to fall.
• Reserve consumption: In winter, a gradual drop in weight shows that the colony is consuming stored resources. This data helps you decide when to feed the bees, ensuring they have enough reserves during winter dormancy.
• Bee movement estimation: The hourly weight readings reveal how the weight decreases at dawn when bees leave to forage and increases when they return at dusk. This fluctuation lets you estimate bee activity and their daily foraging behavior.
• Hive loss detection: If the hive weight remains static or matches the external temperature, it may indicate a hive loss. Early detection allows you to take protective measures and investigate the cause of the loss.

Connectivity and Real-Time Monitoring
The BroodMinder-W is part of the BroodMinder ecosystem, enabling real-time weight monitoring when connected to a BroodMinder-Cell hub. This hub, which connects to the mobile network, collects scale readings and uploads them to the cloud every hour. This means you can check the status of your hives at any time and from any location using the BroodMinder Bees mobile app or the MyBroodMinder.com website. Without the hub, data collection requires visiting the hive and syncing via Bluetooth, a practical choice for occasional monitoring without connectivity costs.

Practical Benefits of Remote Monitoring
Remote weight monitoring not only helps you manage hives more efficiently but also reduces unnecessary trips to the apiary, saving time and fuel. Knowing the status of each hive in advance means you can plan visits only when necessary and bring the right equipment. This capability to make informed decisions without being on-site saves costs and ensures timely actions.

BroodMinder-W Key Features
• Continuous and accurate hive weight monitoring.
• Swarm event detection: sudden weight drops suggest swarming activity, helping you assess the event and take necessary action.
• Detection of robbing or resource scarcity: rapid weight changes in critical periods can signal that other colonies are robbing resources or that the colony is in a resource crisis.
• Long-term data storage: records hive weight and external temperature every hour, with over a year of storage capacity.
• Wireless connectivity: compatible with the BroodMinder ecosystem, enabling real-time data integration through Wi-Fi or Cell hubs (requires a Premium subscription).
• Access to advanced metrics like daily weight gain and hive productivity, available in the BroodMinder Bees app (Android, iOS) and on MyBroodMinder.com.
• Option to contribute data to citizen science: with a free membership, you can participate in the BeeCounted.org initiative, supporting global beekeeping research.

Easy Installation and Use
Installing the BroodMinder-W is quick and easy: simply place it under the hive, where it will operate year-round with minimal maintenance. The scale includes a weatherproof cover, two lithium AAA batteries, free access to BroodMinder’s app and website, and a quick-start guide along with comprehensive online documentation.

Conclusion
The BroodMinder-W Hive Scale is an essential tool for beekeepers who want to optimize hive management based on data. Its ability to capture every detail of hive resource flow makes this scale invaluable for maximizing bee health and productivity while minimizing time and resources spent.