BeeCam Livestreams
Hive One | Hive Two | Both Hives
These are livestreams of two wild-caught honeybee colonies that I keep in the Philly suburbs. Details on the livestreaming setup are on my blog. The text below contains some notes from the year, along with links to pictures, videos, and information.
I've also started to log climate data in and around the beehives and to measure bee activity with a convolutional neural network. Check out the "metrics" links below for timeseries. This is a work in progress, so stay tuned!
Hive One
(metrics - live)
2024
2025
The 2024 colony appears to have made it through the winter as of March 1, 2025. A mite treatment at the end of February revealed very few mites in the hive (only 3 dead observed). The bees will start to forage on plants in bloom whenever the temperature approaches the low 50s Fahrenheit. This early in the season, that will be Witch Hazel and Crocus, and you might see bees bring back a darker and lighter colored pollen corresponding to these two plants. As March leads into April the variety will increase.
Temperature in the brood chamber spiked to 90F around February 25, 2025, indicating the bees were preparing for the queen to lay the first new bees since last Fall. Once the temperature is warm enough, a hive inspection will confirm the presence of brood and see if the development is consistent with eggs laid around that time. As of March 9, I've yet to do a thorough hive inspection, but the bees have been bringing back a lot of pollen. Also on March 9, the entrance reducer was set to its larger setting to help with the traffic jam at the smaller setting.

Starting at a total weight of 120-140 lbs at the end of last Fall (~70 lbs of honey, depending on when you start counting: Nov or Oct) the bees exited the winter with 100 lbs total hive weight as of March 10. That indicates a consumption of around 20 lbs of honey over the winter, which is quite a bit less than I've been lead to believe bees consume. From March 10 onward, the hive weight has been increasing with bee forage activity, up to around 110 lbs nearing the end of March. This should prove interesting to watch over the summer as well.

On March 22, 2025 a hive inspection reveals lots of capped brood, new eggs, and larva, with every indication that a round of bees had already started hatching. The deep box on the bottom had laying on the central six (of eight) frames, and the second medium had some brood on the inner two to four (one side) frames. Some drone brood was observed, but no queen cells, yet. As it takes around 21 days for a bee egg to hatch, these observations fits well with a timeline of the Queen starting laying just before March. Regular checks of the bottom board revealed wax cap debris consistent with hatching bees over the several days leading up to this inspection, which leads me to believe the temperature spike in February was a decent indicator of new spring brood.
Extra info...
Hive Two
(metrics - live)
2024
2025
Without bees, Hive Two sits empty this winter and will be put to use in the spring. Either a split from Hive One or another attempt at catching a wild swarm earlier in the season will find a home there.
Astrophotography

If you've seen my telescope out at night, I keep a photo album of completed images updated for public viewing, and have recently written a blog post on the best images so far, which are also pictured in the banner above. If you're curious about the antennas, check out the Earth. Enjoy!