On March 26th 2022, B-GOOD held the yearly spring meeting for The Central Association of Bee-Keepers (CABK) Association members. Beekeepers, scientists, and researchers gathered together in Nottingham, UK, to familiarise themselves with the different tools developed by B-GOOD and see them in action.

Photo: The participants at the CABK spring meeting during a demonstration of the B-GOOD technologies

The workshop started with a tour of the UK B-GOOD mini-apiary, at Holme Pierrepont Hall. After a presentation of the B-GOOD project fundamentals, Dr. Martin Bencsik and Adam McVeigh of Nottingham Trent University explained the protocol that is followed when inspecting bees. They demonstrated the use of the honeybee sweeper in order to allow the photos of the frames as required in the EFSA inspection protocol and showed printed photos of a frame before and after machine learning extracted the frame content. The guests learned about the principles of the ApisRAM software and saw the LFD devices developed within B-GOOD.

Photo: The participants at the CABK spring meeting observing a mock beehive inspection

They were then brought up to a mock hive that had been prepared with an accelerometer in its central frame, hooked up to headphones. This allowed volunteers to undertake a mock beehive inspection, listening to the vibration that they generate themselves, and that the bees would pick up if they resided on the frame.

Photo: The participants at the CABK spring meeting during a B-GOOD overview presentation

This was followed by an overview of the B-GOOD project, ending with a lively Q&A session. The main topic was the concept of a healthy colony and its relation to diseases - whether a colony with a disease can be healthy or not, and whether health changes are more important than health status.

The event was deemed successful, generating numerous discussions highly relevant to the project, as well as a lot of interest in the B-GOOD designed LFD systems.