I often use a cheap stethoscope to monitor my honey bees in the winter when they’re still clustering below the top bars and out of sight. It’s the least disruptive method I have for checking on the bees.
Listening to the bees with a stethoscope.
It took some practice, but I can tell how deep and how large the cluster is by listening through the hive with the stethoscope. Most of the time, though, I’m just checking that the bees are still alive. That’s usually good enough for me.
A $7 stethoscope.
Sticking my ear against the hive works too, but it’s not as dignified as walking around with a stethoscope.
FEBRUARY 20, 2016: I have to say I continue to be impressed with the $7 stethoscope I bought on Amazon. I listened again to my bees today and could hear a lively buzz of bees in every hive. It takes a bit of imagination to interpret how the bees are doing from the often distant-sounding hum heard through the stethoscope, but at least I can tell they’re still hanging in there.
April 2019 Postscript: I still have my stethoscope, but I don’t use it often anymore. I just bend a knee into the dirt and stick one ear to the side of the hive. I can hear the bees better through my ear.
I have to say I love using my cheap stethoscope to monitor my bees in cold weather. I usually take a listen sometime in the morning before I start work — and it does exactly what I want it to do: it tells me whether the bees are dead or alive; after that, when I listen carefully at different heights along the hive, I can tell how high or low the bees are clustering, just like I said in the post. I would put a stethoscope down as essential beekeeping gear now that I’m using it all the time. I said in the post that sticking my ear to the side of the hive works too, but the stethoscope makes the listening much faster and easier.
It’s always reassuring when I hear the bee buzzing through the stethoscope. That feeling alone is worth the $7 I spent on the stethoscope.