Properly Using the Bee Health Guru App to Record Bee Colonies

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

Steps for Properly Using the Bee Health Guru App for Sampling Bee Colonies

The sampling goal is to obtain a good quality recording for each colony. Let the app conduct a recording and analysis, and then inspect the hive to either confirm, refine, or reject the app's initial analyses. Don't forget to upload everything to the Cloud so that we can use the data to tune the app for accuracy.

Acoustic Sampling Steps for Smartphones and Tablets:

Tips:

1. Pick a time of day when bees are busy foraging.
2. Turn off auto-rotate in phone’s settings to keep the record button at the top; increase screen brightness, and increase the sound level of the beeps that indicate that a recording has started and stopped.
3. Record undisturbed hives – do not smoke, do not open hive, do not run noisy engines, do not talk.
   1. For a few hives, insert the microphone end of a phone (bottom) or tablet (often at the top) into hive entrance, with start button facing out, set phone on bottom board, then push start.
   2. For multiple hives, consider using an external microphone like the Rode Smart Lav+ or the Dayton Audio EMM-6. In both cases, set the phone down on a stable surface and push start when bees settle.
4. Insert the microphone into the entrance of the hive, work from side, and do not stand in front of the hive.
5. Try to ease the microphone close to the center of the bee colony cluster.
6. For first use, record one or a few colonies, save analysis results, fill out inspection forms and save, and then upload using wireless.
   1. Do not spend hours recording colonies to discover your internet connection is slow or will not upload more than a few recordings at a time.

Materials:

1. Smartphone with the app installed (it is best to place the app on the home screen).
   1. For recording many hives, consider taking a portable charger and cable.
2. Electronic or alcohol wipes to clean phone or microphone tip as needed.
3. Water-resistant Markers, Numbered Tags (e.g., cattle ear tags), or Bar Code stickers for Hive I.D.
4. Bee-Veil, Bee Jacket, or Full Bee Suit,
5. Lightweight bee gloves or light-colored disposable gloves (nitrile, vinyl, etc.).
   1. Do not wear black gloves! Dark colors greatly increase stinging behavior.

Preparation:

1. Charge phone and phone charger overnight.
2. Check that you have the newest version of the app downloaded and installed on the phone.
3. Practice using the app at a desk or table until you fully understand the basic sampling steps.

Sampling (Recording) Steps:

1. Turn on and open phone or tablet; find the icon for the bee health guru app.
2. Touch the app icon; the app should open and bring up a start screen,
3. Insert the microphone end of phone or tablet into the hive entrance, setting the device on the bottom board – do not hold in your hand while recording.
4. Tap the record button (it is at the top of the screen, the orange and grey bull's eye button),
5. The phone will beep, begin recording, count down to 30 or 60 seconds) and beep when finished.
6. A 30-second recording should suffice; a 60-second recording may provide a better result.
7. Let the phone save the recording (automatic) and automatically analyze (~ 15 seconds) the recording.
8. The phone will beep; show “Scan Complete.”
9. Remove phone from the hive, look at results (initially these may or may not be accurate – that is part of the tuning process).
10. Touch Hive Description/ID, enter a simple, unique hive number,
    1. Use either your initials or email name plus a number for each hive for Hive Description/ID.
    2. If you use bar codes for hive id, you can tap the bar code icon and use the camera to capture the hive ID – no need to type.
11. Provide the name you use for the location (e.g., Home, Smith Farm, Creekside)
    1. The app itself will add the date, time, and GPS location.
    2. Touch Save and the phone/tablet will save the recording and AI analysis results.
    3. Touch Report and you can fill out a simple colony inspection report, or
    4. Touch the Back Arrow to go to Hive Reports, and Touch the Back Arrow again to start a new recording.
       1. For Reports, the percentage is the AI result shown on the red/blue bars, the question (? ) provides help.
       2. Buttons at the bottom of the screen allow the addition of notes, pictures, check completion, save.
12. Use Back Arrow to return to the home screen to exit the app or start a new recording.
13. The app records and analyzes each hive then allows for an immediate inspection (one hive) or the option to record all colonies, then return to fill out inspection reports.
14. It is best to record every colony at a location before using a smoker and opening hives to inspect.
15. When you are in the range of a fast internet connection, using the Cloud button on the home screen to upload everything.
    1. Be sure to enable wireless for uploading; we do not recommend using slow cellular services.
16. With either cellular service or wireless, the honey bee icon bottom of screen links to www.beehealth.guru.

[RickKelly]

Good information. I scanned several hives, but did not send because I did not have time, and it was too hot/humid to do an inspection at that time. BUT, I inserted the TOP of my iPhone Xs Max into the hive. I will re-scan doing it the right way when I can also do an inspection.

[yellowcyclist]

Small point. Clicking on the bee icon takes me to Bee Health Guru sure enough, but lands on an error page "Invalid URL". Possible to navigate away from there to message centre and rest of site.

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

I've addressed this before, but since you missed my comment, and it seems to be a problem we can't reliably reproduce, but have seen, the fix is to ignore, tap on green banner of Bee Health Guru and the invalid URL should go away. I've started a new Topic thread.

[SharonClay]

I just performed my first scan and upload. Conditions include screened bottom board, 57 degrees F, overcast with intermittent mist, light breeze, and calm bees. Was concerned with this hive because it was accidentally knocked over by a tractor hit. I was able to right it within the hour not without some bee losses. This is a strong hive and I was afraid I lost the Queen on the ground. The report came back twice 5% or less for Queenless, and very low % in all other catigories. I will rescan in a few days when we have a sunny day and open the hive for inspection.

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

Sharon Please inspect and upload your scans with inspections. It sounds like your bees are fine, but we need both results from colonies where the app got it right and colonies and from colonies where the app got something wrong in order to tune the app for accuracy. Glad to see you got the app working

[SharonClay]

Just uploaded scans and inspections for 3 hives. Please let me know if the conditions and results reported are what you need or let me know if there are additional categories I need to look at in the Hive to be more helpful for your research.
I am using smartphone and a PowerDeWise microphone inserted to the center approximately 1/8 inch directly below the screened bottom board.

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

Thank you. After first of year, we will start gathering input that will facilitate the user experiences. For that, we will be asking for input. Thank you for your participation.

[motobiman]

I just stupidly uploaded 7 reports from two apiaries without taking screenshots
Can I recover them or do I have to do the whole thing again?

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

Send this request to [email protected] with your note, user name, and dates of upload. He may be able to recover them.

[chavebh]

I uploaded audio files the other day, but did not do hive inspections. Sorry about actually wasting your time! I will do better in the future!

I played around with the voice recorder app on my phone, and see what you mean about noises picked up by the mic that makes the recording useless. I made a "sock" from vinyl window screen material for my phone; it protects the built-in mic from pitter-patter of bee feet & aggression. I feel that helped in audio quality. I also removed my phone from its protective case - it's thick and I have a pop-up thingy which prevented getting the phone inserted properly.

It was interesting that, when I was able to hear the tone of the colony, they each seemed to be singing a different note on the music scale!

[Jerry Bromenshenk]

Error when going to www.beehealth.guru from within the app. Simply tap on the banner, and it should load. Of course, you have to have cellular or wireless service to access the bulletin board. Also, we do not advise trying to upload from the field. Find a faster wireless, have a cup of coffee, a soda, even a beer or glass of wine. Push the upload (Cloud icon) button, and the app does all of the work while you relax.