Bee Hive Inspections Process

How Bee Hive Inspections Work

Bee Sure audits select a minimum of 10% of the total number of hives present in the apiary for inspection. Where the weather is inappropriate for the opening of  hives auditors will use FLIR ONE Thermal Imager attached to an iPhone to detect any hives that are ‘cooler’ and therefore more likely to be substandard hives in the apiary. Should any ‘cooler’ hives be detected with the thermal imager, these are to be included in the 10% to be sampled once hive opening commences 

If hive audits identify more than 30% of the hives sampled as substandard the audit will select a further 10% of hives for inspection. After the second set of hives has been inspected, if the total of those believed to be substandard is fewer than 30%, then the audit moves on to their next allocated site. 

If after 2 rounds of hive strength audits find substandard hives is over 30% then the auditor will contact the appropriate person engaging the beekeeper for pollination services to inform of the audit results immediately so replacement hives can be sought.
 
If there is a mix of substandard and reasonable hives in the apiary, then the threshold should be calculated by counting any medium risk hives towards the low risk threshold of 30%. There are some examples below to assist in your calculations. 

Beekeeper has 100 hives, 10 of them are inspected and 8 are substandard a further 10% will be audited.

Beekeeper has 100 hives, 10 of them are inspected and 4 are substandard, the auditor then selects a further 10 hives to inspect but if none of these are substandard, then the total % of hives inspected is 20% and is reflected in the report.

Beekeeper has 100 hives, 10 of them are inspected and 5 are substandard the auditor inspects a further 10 hives and another 5 hives are substandard then the total % of substandard hives is 10% the auditor will contact the persons purchasing the audit service immediately to discuss the results.

Field reports either electronic or hard copy are available and provided to entities engaging Bee Sure Hive Inspection services.