Development of an automatic solar powered honey bee feeding system in a movable multi shelves apiary

Abstract

Keeping bee colonies is one of the most important sectors of investment in the global agricultural field. Internationally, beekeepers are interested in improving bee feeding methods to maximize the productivity and quality of their products. Whereas the current study aims to develop and evaluate an automatic feeding system that works with solar energy. This technique increases the vertical expansion of beekeeping by designing a multi-shelf mobile apiary for easy transportation as desired. The development process included the inclusion of automated feeders that operate electronically using sensors to provide a nutritional solution for bee colonies without human intervention. Also, the automatic apiary was provided with a sugar solution tank that was equipped with a continuous stirring system that works with a timer. Also, the automatic apiary contains an alarm system and remote mobile contact with the beekeeper in case of depletion of the sugar syrup. The variables under study included three levels of nutritional level volumes of 500, 750, and 1000 ml, respectively, with two stirring periods (3 and 6 times/day) at two concentrations for sugar solution of 50 and 67%. The evaluation process was done during the critical winter period of the year, from December to March. The main results showed that the colonies’ strength had an increment ratio over control hives of 30.23% when using the highest variable levels. Also, the seasonal energy consumption ranged from 1.25–2.81 kWh per season. Therefore, beekeepers can benefit from this novel feeding approach.

Keywords:

• Automatic feeder
• level sensor
• pyramidal
• solar
• solenoid
• stirring

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Agricultural Engineering Research Institute (AEnRI), Agricultural Research Center (ARC) Egypt, by providing the laboratory equipment and raw materials which were used to manufacture this solar automatic mobile apiary.