AUTOMATED CONTROL HIVE AS AN ELEMENT OF AN INTELLIGENT APIARY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of the technology for using a control hive on apiaries of various types: honey production, queen-rearing, package bee, industrial, and amateur. The control hive is an innovative educational and research tool developed through the work of a student scientific group to improve the efficiency of observing bee colony conditions without disturbing the microclimate of the nest. The study focuses on optimizing technological processes in beekeeping through the use of the control hive for continuous monitoring of bees’ physiological and behavioral states, productivity control, brood development analysis, and honey flow assessment.

The paper presents a detailed methodology for integrating the control hive into different types of apiaries. For honey-producing apiaries, the hive records daily weight changes to determine nectar flow dynamics; for queen-rearing apiaries, it controls the temperature and humidity during queen breeding; and for package bee apiaries, it helps monitor colony strength before forming bee packages. In industrial apiaries, the control hive allows remote monitoring of multiple colonies using automated data collection systems, while in amateur apiaries, it improves management accuracy and overall beekeeping culture.

Particular attention is paid to digital technologies, including the use of sensor modules, weighing platforms, temperature sensors, wireless data transmission systems, and specialized software for data storage and analysis. This integration forms a unified monitoring database that can be used for breeding, productivity forecasting, honey quality control, and queen performance evaluation.

The article also emphasizes the educational significance of the control hive as a training and research tool in agricultural education institutions. It contributes to the development of students’ professional competencies in digital monitoring, analytical thinking, and ecological management in beekeeping.

The research results demonstrate that the use of the control hive increases the accuracy of bee colony assessment by 20–25%, reduces productivity losses during inspections by 10–15%, and improves nest microclimate stability. The findings confirm the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing control hives as an essential element of technological monitoring, education, and scientific research in modern beekeeping.