Home▸Education & Learning Tools▸Technology-Assisted Swarm Detection and Capture for UK Beekeepers

🐝 Technology-Assisted Swarm Detection and Capture for UK Beekeepers

How hive scales, acoustic sensors, thermal imaging and bait hive placement help UK beekeepers predict and intercept swarms before or after they leave the hive.

Education & Learning Tools3DAdvanced60 FPS

A 3D apiary combining a live hive scale, an acoustic buzz monitor, a thermal bearding overlay and a repositionable bait hive, all driven by a single timeline of the days before and after a swarm departs.

🔬 What It Demonstrates

How weight, sound and heat signatures shift as a colony approaches swarming, then change abruptly the moment the swarm actually leaves — and how bait hive placement affects the odds of recapturing it.

🎮 How to Use

Scrub the days-to-swarm slider to watch the scale, waveform and thermal bearding respond, toggle the thermal and acoustic overlays, reposition the bait hive, then press "Trigger swarm departure" to watch the cluster leave and fly to the bait hive.

💡 Did You Know?

A hive scale typically shows a sudden 1.5–3kg drop within minutes as a prime swarm departs — usually on a warm, still mid-morning — taking roughly half the colony's population with it.

⚙ Under the hood

A 3D apiary model where a live hive scale, acoustic buzz monitor and thermal bearding overlay all respond to a days-to-swarm timeline slider, and a repositionable bait hive can capture an animated swarm departure that pours from the entrance, clusters on a branch, and flies off.

swarminghive monitoringbait hivesapiary technologyqueen cellsswarm capture

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install