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EP-4111857-B1 - BEEHIVE

EP4111857B1EP 4111857 B1EP4111857 B1EP 4111857B1EP-4111857-B1

Inventors

  • PIETROPAOLI, Marco
  • LOMBARDI, Pierpaolo
  • CANZONIERO, Domenico

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220628

Claims (10)

  1. Hive (1) comprising a first chamber (2) configured to house at least one honeycomb, laterally delimited by at least a first side wall (20) including at least a first access (20a) suitable for allowing said bees to access or exit from said first chamber (2) and inferiorly delimited by a first bottom wall (21) extending along a bottom plane (2a), and - an access duct (3) communicating with said first chamber (2) through said first access (20a), defining an entrance (30) at a free end of said access duct (3) through which said bees can disperse into or enter from an external environment-and extending mainly transversely to said bottom plane (2a) so that said entrance (30) is positioned above said first chamber (2) with respect to a ground when said hive (1) is in use, characterized in that - said entrance (30) is articulated so as to allow to vary the direction of access to said access duct (3), and in that said access duct (3) is extendable with respect to the ground so that said entrance (30) is arranged be risen above the ground at a greater height than an operator maintaining said hive (1).
  2. Hive (1) according to the preceding claim, further comprising a second chamber (4) connected laterally to said first chamber (2), inferiorly delimited by at least a second bottom wall (40) extending along said bottom plane (2a) and communicating with said first chamber (2) through a second access (20b) through which said bees can pass from said first chamber (2) to said second chamber (4) and vice versa.
  3. Hive (1) according to claim 2, wherein said second bottom wall (40) is in one piece with said first bottom wall (21) so as to provide a common bottom (24) between said chambers (2, 4).
  4. Hive (1) according to claim 3, wherein said common bottom (24) comprises: - a mesh membrane (24a) extending along said bottom plane (2a) and configured to allow the passage of only debris and pollen produced or carried by said bees, and - a drawer (24b) extending parallel to said bottom plane (2a) below said mesh membrane (24a), configured to collect said residue and pollen and extractable with respect to said chambers (2, 4).
  5. Hive (1) according to any one of claims 2-4, wherein said second chamber (4) is connected to said side wall (20), said second access (20b) is arranged on said side wall (20) between said first access (20a) and said bottom plane (2a), and said access duct (3) extends at least in part through said second chamber (4).
  6. Hive (1) according to any one of claims 2-5, wherein said second chamber (4) is at least partially delimited by a mesh wall (41) configured to only allow the passage of air and to obstruct the passage of said bees.
  7. Hive (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first chamber (2) comprises: - a guide (22) extending inside said first chamber (2) along said first side wall (20) and configured to house behind said accesses (20a, 20b) a perforated flat trap (22a) suitable for removing pollen from said bees passing through it, and - a slot (23) configured to allow access to said guide (22) from the outside for being able to extract said trap (22a) from or insert said trap (22a) into said guide (22).
  8. Hive (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first chamber (2) comprises an observation wall (26) comprising a frame (26a) configured to support one or more sheets and at least two transparent sheets (26b) removably constrained to said frame (26a) and configured to allow an operator to consult the inside of said first chamber (2).
  9. Hive (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first chamber (2) is superiorly delimited by a mesh cover (25) removably constrained to at least said first side wall (20), configured to allow the inspection of said first chamber (2) and including a plurality of notches that can be opened on command and configured to allow the insertion or extraction of objects from said first chamber (2).
  10. Hive (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising monitoring means (5) configured to detect one or more environmental parameters referred to said first chamber (2) and/or said second chamber (4) and/or to the external environment and including one or more chosen from first sensors (50) configured to detect and measure the presence of NH3 and/or Nox and/or Benzene and/or CO2 inside said first chamber (2), second sensors (51) configured to detect and measure the temperature and humidity inside and/or outside said first chamber (2), third sensors (52) positioned on said entrance (30) and configured to detect the presence of rain, fourth sensors (53) positioned in correspondence with at least said first bottom wall (21) and configured to measure the weight of said hive (1) and an optical device configured to acquire images or videos of said bees within said first chamber (2).

Description

The present invention has as its object a hive of the type specified in the preamble to the first claim. More particularly, the present invention has as its object a hive suitable for the sheltering and biomonitoring of colonies of bees contained therein. A similar hive is disclosed within patent application CN-U-211910139. As is well known, the hive is an artificial shelter within which a colony of domestic bees, mainly Apis mellifera, live and where, as in the natural hive structure, the bees build the comb. These bees are then bred by a beekeeper in order to produce honey and derivatives including wax, poison, propolis. The various types of hives that exist have very different structural characteristics depending on the beekeeper's needs. For example, beekeeping can be sedentary or nomadic and the beekeeper can be an entrepreneur or a hobbyist. Hives are generally classified into two categories: traditional or rational. Traditional beehives have fixed panels woven from straw. They can also be made of wood or stone depending on the material available locally. These configurations involve the removal and cutting of combs to obtain honey, so that the bees have to rebuild the combs after harvesting. This type of hive is the oldest as straw has always been an easy material to find and weave and has excellent insulating and waterproof properties. The rational hives, on the other hand, contain movable frames inside them that allow the honey to be extracted without destroying the nest. Today, in beekeeping, the rational hives are the main type used in beekeeping. These hives can have two modes of frame extraction: vertical or rear. The most commonly used type is vertical extraction. The following is a description of a Langstroth-type hive, with subsequent modifications, in order to illustrate the essential constituents of this structure. A hive generally consists of several parts that are assembled together, giving it a cubic or parallelepiped shape. It has a bottom, which can be raised from the ground by means of appropriate platforms, which represents the support base for the entire hive. This bottom was originally a solid panel firmly connected to the rest of the structure. The advent of the varroa mite made it necessary to replace the traditional bottom with a removable tray in order to control the possible presence of this ectoparasite in the hive. Above is the nest, made up of four wooden panels, generally fir in Italy, to house a few frames. They are made up of four wooden slats, of which the upper one is the longest, thus acting as a support for the whole frame, which can rest on the recesses at the front and back of the nest. The frame is 'reinforced' by passing a wire through it vertically and/or horizontally and at several points, on which the wax sheet is placed to aid the construction of the comb. In addition, at the front of the hive, a small wooden door or metal grid is placed at the nest, which allows bees to enter and exit but precludes access to larger animals or insects. Above the nest there may be a metal or plastic grid, called a queen excluder, with appropriately calibrated meshes to allow only worker bees to pass through and block the queen bee inside the nest. Then there is the shallow box, a box, generally made of fir wood, which also houses the frames that may not contain brood due to the presence of the queen excluder. It is usually lower in height than the nest and houses one less frame so as to allow for greater thickening of the combs and thus facilitate the uncapping operation. A crown board, i.e. a slab preferably made of wood, is placed on the honeycomb and is used to keep the lid raised. The crown board has a hole generally used to feed the bees without opening the hive. In conclusion, the lid generally has a metal sheet cover in order to provide greater protection from the weather. The known technique described includes some major drawbacks. In particular, the known hives of the state of the art hinder the movement of bees with respect to humans, since the doors for entering and exiting the nest are positioned at points in the hive in front of which the operator stands. In addition, hives of the known technique are poorly ventilated, reducing the effective thermoregulation of the nest by the bees. In addition, conventional hives, lacking openings at the bottom of the hive, do not allow the bees to efficiently clean certain parts of the interior of the hive or allow the bees to carry debris or any sick or dead bees outside efficiently. In this situation, the technical task underlying the present invention is to devise a hive capable of substantially obviating at least part of the aforementioned drawbacks. In the context of said technical task, it is an important aim of the invention to obtain a hive which allows to facilitate the entry and exit of bees from the nest avoiding that the path is obstructed by the operator. Another important aim of the invention is to achieve a hive