Webcams inside beehives

[Essex Bees]

Before I start, I hope I'm adding this to the right section of the forum - if I'm not, can someone [politely] tell me where to shove it

I want to add a live webcam to my beekeeping site and while the technical bits of getting a webcam to stream to a site is my kinda thing (I'm a nerd!!!), I am wondering whether or not having an illuminated webcam will cause the bees any distress inside the hive.

My instinct says it wont be an issue, but I was wondering if anyone else has a view on this, or indeed any experience.

I'm not talking about a 60watt bulb, but a "snakecam" which has a flexible camera and inbuilt light.

Any feedback would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[RoofTops]

Give it a go and tell us how you get on! If the bees don't like the light they will probably cover it in wax or propolis. This can be taken as a hint but you might get some good shots before it happens.

In observation hives, the bees seem to carry on as normal despite being exposed to light but then they are usually closed up in the dark for most of the day and only exposed for observation.

I suspect having the light on all the time might prove an issue but as above, give it a go. At the worst case you may have to put a timeswitch on it so it comes on for say only a couple of hours at a time.

 

[grizzly]

We used an internal camera with sound, and infra red, the footage you will get is very interesting, and worth a look, but be prepared to trawl through hours of saved video.

 

[nosmoking]

We used an internal camera with sound, and infra red, the footage you will get is very interesting, and worth a look, but be prepared to trawl through hours of saved video.

Hi. Can we see any of the footage? Would bee interesting

 

[Essex Bees]

I've done a bit more searching and cannot find anything to discourage doing this...

...therefore, today I've ordered some wood and will be making a webcam-hive next week

Should be a giggle if nothing else

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Does the Sysonby keeper come on here Admin? Their interior cam is pretty good -
http://www.sysonby.com/beecam/

 

[Essex Bees]

Does the Sysonby keeper come on here Admin? Their interior cam is pretty good -
http://www.sysonby.com/beecam/

Thanks for the link ... I've been a nerd and asked them for details.

 

[Tweenster]

The Sysonby feed is brilliant, does anyone know what camera they used, or can anyone suggest a good camera. I would love to see inside my hive more often.