How many bees per minute?

[Algonam]

One of my beekeeping books said to count how many come in to the hive each minute. This way you can determine how many bees you have in your hive.
On a warm day like today (mid 80's down to mid 60's at night) we have 1 hive that exceeds 60bees/minute and the other hive is around 20bees/minute.
How does this compare to yours? Have you ever taken note?

[Sundog]

I think the count can vary greatly depending on factors such as time of day, weather conditions, and what the colony is trying to accomplish.

I have set a video camera at the entrance so I can watch it at my liesure and activity can vary greatly from one minute to the next.

I would pull a frame and take a picture.  Count how many are in a small area and project the count from there.

Have fun!

[BlueBee]

I agree with Sundog, but just for grins I decided to check mine just now. 

Conditions:  mid afternoon, completely sunny, 88F.

My full sized hives are all over 60 bees returning each minute. 
My nucs vary from 15 to 30 returning per minute.

Video camera Sundog?  Nice touch!

[Sundog]

Video camera Sundog?  Nice touch!

I got a Nikon Cool Pix for my birthday a few weeks ago, takes MOVs and works very well.  Set it on my tripod and let it run.  I hold it under the bottom screen of my TBH and take stills with it too.  I'd love to post some, but I'm not allowed.

Regards

[slacker361]

wow you guys really need a harvest to keep you busy....... :lau: :lau: :lau: :lau: :lau:

[BlueBee]

It's Sunday, a day of rest. 

We'll get back to the heavy lifting on Monday :)