Bee Cam Experiments

After I posted yesterday, my head was planning the weekend of how I was going to position the camera for the best view, how I could get the power to it and then stream to the net.  When at 22.00 ish a flash, bang and it all went dark.  No, the second bottle of wine hadn't kicked in, the transformer on the router of my 'spy' camera had blown, taking everything in the house with it. After work today I phoned the camera supplier he was very apologetic and offered to send a new one.  All very well, but what about my fun for the weekend! Desperate times, I nearly considered hoovering to pass the hours!   After a good old root through my box of leads and a brief Facebook lesson from my friend Jon on Volts and Ampage, resulting in a 'just use that one and it will be ok' followed by a 'broken' Facebook connection - I was up and running again.   

Next problem was how to keep the Beecam place, I tried cello-tape, and masking tape, but ultimately the ideal solution was the combination of screwed up ball of masking tape stuck onto a handy plank of wood jammed into position with brute force.  Rolling. Above is the same view as yesterday, but the right way around. I really must look at a more permanent solution to housing the camera. 

Pic above is taken from a middle hive hole and you can clearly see the tiny end comb being worked on. Hopefully the gap between this comb and the comb next to it is the correct bee space, defined as the width for 2 bees to work back to back.      

 Another pic of the huddle, I have a ton of video, most of it out of focus, and I need to edit it into something upload-able, but still working on that (its a learning curve). Seeing the pics is reassuring for me, and I will not be opening the hive this weekend.  There is obviously not an excessive amount of dead bees on the mesh floor, the bees are creating new nice and straight comb, and keeping the brood warm in the huddle, so I am assuming all is well, and any interference from me would be really unappreciated by the bees. They are still really amiable, all the faffing with the camera today, my unveiled head was in the way of the entrance many times today and the affable bees kindly chose the scenic route.

I have been wondering of how I can get the camera in the hive, without losing quality or having the bees propolis it to death. I was considering putting it in a jar with a hole drilled into the lid to allow the power cable through.  I would like to position it so I could catch the occasional sight of Queen Kylie and perhaps some babies hatching. Any advice would be most welcome.  Although don't try and explain ampage to me, I still don't understand so I chose the Chinese transformer as the router is also Chinese and I thought they may talk the same language, the method has worked, and nothing has blown up, thanks for trying Jon, it is also the one you recommended, why is beyond me.