The first honey harvested from Linnaeus University’s connected beehive
Since some time now, a colony of bees live on the roof of Building Magna in Kalmar. During summer, there has been feverish activity in the connected Småland beehive in order for the bee community to become established. The bees have now been prepared for their winter rest and Linnaeus University has not only installed new technology in the beehive but also harvested the first honey.
Student Elin Björck has taken care of the bees during the summer. The bees have been nice in general but she got a bit worried one day when she arrived at the hive and realised that something was not right.
“Yes, we were somewhat worried this summer. When I checked, I could not find any eggs nor a new queen even though I looked carefully, which indicated that the old queen had died, and we did not know if there was a new one. When we returned a couple of days later, we finally found a new queen in the last frame we checked”, says Björck.
Once the new queen flew out and managed to mate, the bees have seemed to thrive in the environment on the roof, and they have been unexpectedly productive.
“The bees have produced more honey than you would expect from a new colony that was established quite late”, Björck continues.
The bees are now being prepared for their winter rest and Mikael Ekström from BeeLab is taking part in the preparations. This time, dressed in extra protective clothing as we walk onto the roof.
“The bees do not like that we take their honey, which means they can become more aggressive” Ekström explains as he puts on his overall.
New technology in the beehive
Also on the roof is Fredrik Ahlgren, senior lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, together with research engineers David Mozart and Mustafa Omareen, who are all part of the project IoT lab for SMF, which will now install new equipment in the hive.
Load cells and air and CO2 pressure gauges are now being installed in the hive. Solar cells are also being mounted on the roof of the beehive. The solar panel will generate energy for the battery that runs the hive, which means that the battery will not have to be changed with this solution.
“Next year, we won’t have to guess. Thanks to the load cells, we will now the weight of the honey before it is harvested”, Ahlgren explains.
“30 new connected hives are now being put into place around Sweden. In this way, we will be able to measure the correlation between different cities and see whether the bee communities are stronger or weaker depending on the air quality”, Ekström continues.
Björck is contracted to take care of the bees during the autumn. Ahlgren is pleased about the fact that students take part in the project. When asked what will happen to the hive later on, Ahlgren answers quickly.
“This could be the first of many hives. We want to create a ‘living green façade’ at Linnaeus University, a different type of environment, that benefits everything that grows nearby. There are good places locations for research projects and we now have a platform that is in demand, which can result in new degree projects”, Ahlgren explains.
Overwintering is prepared in several steps
Preparing bees for their winter rest, so-called overwintering, is done in several steps. Björck and Ekström start by removing the super (a box) on top of the brood chamber in the hive. After this, they also remove most of the frames in the brood chamber. Roughly 10 out of a total of 28 frames are left in place, as winter nest for the community, on which the community will later sit in a so-called winter cluster, a type of semi-dormancy, when the outdoor temperature is at its coldest. These are frames with bees who will overwinter together with the queen, and frames that may still contain brood or some pollen. Ekström’s estimation is that the honey frames that have been removed from the box and the brood chamber weigh roughly 25–30 kg.
One of the most disturbing elements for the bees during the bee year is the preparation for overwintering, when most of the honey frames are taken from them. In order to keep the bees as calm as possible, Ekström and Björck use a special method.
“We blow smoke at the hive to make the bees think there’s a grass or forest fire, which makes the bees fill up with honey, which makes them calmer and ‘friendlier’”, says Ekström.
The final step is to provide the bees with a bucket of bee fodder (Bifor), an adapted sugar mixture, as replacement for the honey that has been taken from them. After this, it is time to extract the honey, filter it, and tap in into jars with a newly-designed label from Linnaeus University.
Björck brings the knowledge with her into the future
Björck is happy about her part in the work with the digital beehive and brings the knowledge with her into the future.
“I’ve contributed to the goal to the make sure the bees survive and that they have now established a community. When I finish my studies, I want to buy a house and have my own beehive”, Björck continues.
“Yes, once you have started working with bees it’s hard to stop”, Ekström says laughing.
According to Ekström, it seems the bees have been collecting pollen and nectar in Stadsparken, which makes you curious – how does Linnaeus University’s own honey taste?
“It tastes sweet and delicious”, answers both Björck and Omareen, the two project members who have had the opportunity to try the honey.
Collaboration project
This is a regional collaboration project between IoT lab for SMF and BeeLab. The electronics prototype was developd by Dectron in Färjestaden, the battery by SAFT in Oskarshamn, and the Småland beehive by Påskallaviks Snickeri in Oskarshamn.
More information
The knowledge environment Digital transformations has granted seed projects for two new postdoc positions who will work with sound recognition. Learn more.