Web Beecam

[dickbowyer]

At last got the beecam to work streaming over the net - see here

http://www.bowyer.org.uk/beecam.htm

 

[the beehive lodge]

nice one will look on with interest

 

[victor meldrew]

nice one will look on with interest

No midnight cowboys I see
Nice job ,I'll look forward to viewing during daylight.
All ready in my favourites

John Wilkinson

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Still a bit chilly, or are they just teenagers. Nice picture though, and will be inteteresting to compare with the webcam at Melton

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Mucho activity now Mr B. Is that an empty hive in the background or does the shade mean they are later risers?

 

[LauraB]

I'm thinking of trying to set a beecam up - what equipment am I going to need and any tips? Thanks Laura

 

[dickbowyer]

Mucho activity now Mr B. Is that an empty hive in the background or does the shade mean they are later risers?

Monsieur Abeille

The hive in the foreground superseded late in the season just as I had bought a local Carniolan queen as I thought it was queenless. The bought Carniolan queen was put in to a nucleus to unite with the "queenless" colony and is residing there still, fingers crossed, having overwintered and pollen going in now! Despite being weak then, the hive built up very quickly in numbers and has overwintered well. The "bait" hive behind received a swarm mid June and is the weakest of my hives, hence being a bit quieter.

 

[dickbowyer]

I'm thinking of trying to set a beecam up - what equipment am I going to need and any tips? Thanks Laura

Laura

You could get a network camera to watch on your pc but these are quite expensive. I bought a cheap "weatherproof" CCTV camera off Amazon (£15-20) and put it in a Robin Nesting box to protect a bit more from the weather. Power supply supplied was not good quality and I had to buy another from Maplins. I ran separate power and video leads to prevent electrical interference and the audio lead would also need to be separate if you don't want an annoying hum. Amazon sell 2-50 meter cables. Simply then plug into a TV via the yellow composite video socket +/- white audio socket or through scart adaptor. Quality of video was surprisingly good. To do a web beecam, you need to get video +/- sound onto a pc. You can use USB stick or internal PCI analogue video +/- audio card (£20-25) to convert to digital signal for the pc to then broadcast. I used Camstreams and it was relatively easy to set up if you are computer/Network literate. Streamed video quality is nowhere as good as that seen on a TV. Hope that helps!

Dick

 

[onriver]

looks good - I'm trying to do the same and so far have the technical kit but wondering about the bee end, especially the camera set up in the hive itself. Do you use a sheet of ordinary perspex or glass between bees and lens and how far off the bees is it mounted?
Andy

 

[dickbowyer]

looks good - I'm trying to do the same and so far have the technical kit but wondering about the bee end, especially the camera set up in the hive itself. Do you use a sheet of ordinary perspex or glass between bees and lens and how far off the bees is it mounted?
Andy

Andy

My beecam just shows the outside of my hives - the link to the "Sysonbee" Knoll website is http://www.sysonby.com/index.htm who run the internal view. They may be able to help.

Dick

 

[onriver]

Thanks - and there was I impressed that someone else had cracked the problem first! - I'll try Sysonbee

 

[kazmcc]

As I am still not well, I can't get down and bee watch as much as I'd like to. Problem solved

Thank you

 

[LauraB]

thanks for the info - I'll see what we have at home if not a trip down to maplins seems to be the order of the day!

 

[YorkshireBees]

looks good - I'm trying to do the same and so far have the technical kit but wondering about the bee end, especially the camera set up in the hive itself. Do you use a sheet of ordinary perspex or glass between bees and lens and how far off the bees is it mounted?
Andy

I think you will find the 'inside the hive' camera is actually a camera aimed at an inside observation hive. I assume this due to the lighting being bright, so the camera is on the outside of the glass wall of the hive.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Oh forgot to say, congrats on the Web beecam, looks great.
I have it as a future project after my brother put his newly purchased security camera near the hive I have in his garden for a while!
It was the network camera type and after adjusting the settings it gave great results until he removed it to it's proper place

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Really good - I could sit and watch it all day!

 

[Dishmop]

At last got the beecam to work streaming over the net - see here

http://www.bowyer.org.uk/beecam.htm

For some odd reason when I click on this link Firefox browser crashes....

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

For some odd reason when I click on this link Firefox browser crashes....

Try an update (think theres a new version out). OK with both my Firefox v3.6.9 and IE

EDIT - may also be worth checking your default Media player and updating that

 

[BobH1]

I found this video equipment when trawling the web: http://www.gardenature.co.uk/shop/index.php?cid=3

It might be useful for those of us (including me!) who a bit overwelmed by the technology.

 

[louiseww]

I had to download a plug in for this and it crashed so I couldn't see anything, shame would have been interested.
Louise