Hive scale ramblings
For the last couple of years, the hive scale has been located in the back yard, within reach of an extension cord. It’s not the greatest place to keep a hive considering the back lot where the rest of the hive stands is well fenced, the back yard has no fences. We’ve been lucky in that yogi has never discovered that hive and taken it apart. But last fall we ran conduits out to the back lot for another project, so while we were at it, I had a power plug installed in the first row of hive stands, preparing to move the scale hive into the back lot with the other bees.
We made the move on Jan 10 of this year. After the move I’ve noticed the scale data has become somewhat erratic, and looking carefully, the large gains and drops seem to correspond to when it’s raining. I’m going to re-visit the scale setup, I suspect it’s catching water during the rain, and possibly running back inside instead of off the front lip of the entrance, that would explain the sudden gains of a few pounds during each rain event.
The scale has turned into an invaluable resource helping us understand what is going on with our colonies thru the season, and it’s never shown the erratic readings during rain event in the past, so, it must be something about how we set things up after the move to the back lot. Yet another chore to add to the never ending to-do list.