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This procedure is designed to monitor the condition of the family in spring and summer. The procedure shows the relative balance of works, aimed to build up the strength of the family, and works on collection and processing of honey. This ratio indicates whether there is a chance for the beekeeper to receive at the moment marketable honey, or the family is working only to meet their own needs.
Balance in the spring in the direction of increasing the strength of the family is a natural process of development of bees' family. In the spring, such a shift has a positive value. The family is gaining strength. But in the summer, when the commodity honey harvest begins, the lack of daytime and evening works on processing of honey means, that all honey is consumed by bees and brood, and does not reach the storage. That means, that honey supply is lower than the family's own need for food, and it does not make sense for beekeeper to hope, that such a family will give the commodity honey at the moment. The beekeeper is required to take appropriate measures - either to reduce the number of brood in order to rid the bees from in-hive works, so they could fly for honey, or to move the family close to strong source of nectar ...
The screen in this mode is made in the form of a graph, since the bees' signals are not stable and it takes some time to see the main trend. They are not stable during the day and at different times of the day. The graph has many sharp jumps, which depends on the number of bees and the work they perform.
The chart characterize the state of bee family as follows :
- If the graph is red, and is situated at the top of the screen, then the family is in the process of building up strength. The work of such a family on commodity honey harvest is unlikely possible.
- If the graph is red, and is situated near the zero line, then we can say, that the family is close to the working state. The process of building up the forces in the final stage and the use of commodity honey is possible.
- If the graphical is white and is situated near the zero line, then we can talk about the transition of the family to the working state. The family continues to build strength, but this process is in the final stages. The family can start using commodity honey harvest.
- If the graph is white and is situated at the bottom of the screen, we can talk about the working state of the family, and its full readiness to use commodity honey harvest.
- The larger the amplitude of the oscillations of the graph down, the more possible usage of commodity honey harvest at the moment.
- The larger the amplitude of the oscillations of the graph upward, the less possible usage of commodity honey harvest at the moment.
- The less fluctuation in the graph, the more uniformly all works are done in the family, the less bees are changing the types of activity, depending on the need. This indicates stability of the indicated ratio, and respectively, indicates stability of the explored state of bees' family.
It should be noted again, that indications, which you see on the chart, are relative, and may fluctuate, depending on the time of day and season. Naturally, intermediate values can occur both, during the day time, and during honey harvest season, but in general, the understanding of the trend persists.
Bearing in mind the fluctuations in the activity of bees, we have made a graph that allows us to see not a momentary state of the family, but a trend in time. Therefore, in order to obtain more reliable data, it is necessary to spend a certain time on the measurement, and to obtain a graph for a longer period of time. We usually use intervals from 5 to 15-20 minutes, depending on the complexity of the situation.
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