Software for Evaluation of Honeybee Brood Trials and Colony Assessment

Honeybee trials can considerably profit from using software tools and digital photography for their evaluation. The use of photographs reduces the impact on the colonies to a minimum and with modern software technology and image recognition algorithms the evaluation is much faster and more reliable than any previous methods. We have developed three products for your evaluations:

HoneybeeComplete (colony assessments & brood trials)

HoneybeeComplete (for MS Windows) is our prime product. It includes all functions of IndiCounter and Honeybee Brood Logger plus some additional features. With HoneybeeComplete you can do honeybee brood trials (e.g. according to OECD 75 or Oomen et al. 1992) and colony assessments. Instead of relying on colony estimation methods (e.g. Liebefelder) you can profit from counting honeybees or capped cells directly with our auto-recognition addons. Good image quality provided the software can recognise up to 90% of adult bees and >99% of capped cells. In addition, recognition can be restricted to user defined areas of images. If you still need a better performance, we can train the software for your particular camera setup. Colony assessments can be based either on the number of bees (or capped cells) or on coverage. For brood trials addons are available for the automatic detection of eggs, young larvae, old larvae and pupae.

With auto-recognition addons adult honeybees or capped cells can automatically be identified and counted. Also assessments based on coverage are possible.
Brood stages are easily registered with the mouse or key shortcuts. This facilitates routine analyses (this image has been taken with a flash but without a photo box and it was automatically adjusted with the software).
With the addon for auto-recognition of capped cells, brood cells can automatically be identified and counted. Also coverage can be calculated.
Images are automatically aligned by the software. Hence even free-hand photos can be used without the need to purchase a special foto-box.
Evaluations can be conducted either according to OECD 75 or a full evaluation can be conducted including all brood stages (Oomen et al., 1992). The photo in the background has been taken with a hand hold flash without a special photo box and was automatically adjusted with the software.
The cell development can be displayed as an image gallery. Image galleries can be copied into Word documents or saved as graphic files.
Different display modes can be selected to display brood stages. These include symbols proposed by OECD 75.

Honeybee Brood Logger (brood trials)

Honeybee Brood Logger is a software for MS Windows specifically developed for evaluation of honeybee brood trials based on digital photographs. Honeybee Brood Logger supports the evaluation according to OECD 75. Additionally a full evaluation of all brood stages, as suggested by Oomen et al. 1992, is included. As all our programs, Honeybee Brood Logger is user friendly. Images are automatically aligned correctly even if the are taken without a specific photo-box. Analyses (either according to OECD 75 or a full evaluation including all brood stages, as suggested by Oomen et al., 1992) are easily performed on a single click.

IndiCounter (colony assessments)

IndiCounter for colony assessmentsIndiCounter is a software for MS Windows for honeybee colony assessments or other biological trials which are based on counting individuals. You can measure colony size much more reliably by counting individuals or capped cells with our automatic image recognition addons. Good image quality provided the software can recognise up to 90% of adult bees and >99% of capped cells. In addition, recognition can be restricted to user defined areas of images. If you still need a better performance, we can train the software for your particular camera setup. No other methods, including the Lieberfelder estimation or methods based on colour similarity, reach such accurate results.

Feature matrix

	HoneybeeComplete	Honeybee Brood Logger	IndiCounter
Automatic adjustment of images (no specific photo-box required)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Brood evaluation according to OECD 75	Yes	Yes	-
Brood evaluation according to Oomen et al. 1992	Yes	Yes	-
Continuous brood evaluation (long-term monitoring)	Yes	-	-
Image gallery displaying development per cell	Yes	Yes	-
Honeybee colony assessments	Yes	-	Yes
Direct printing of results with a watermark (GLP)	Yes	-	Yes
Evaluation of multiple photos/combs	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tabular and graphical ouput of results	Yes	Yes	Yes
Suitable for auto-recognition addons (e.g. adult bees, eggs, young larvae, old larvae, etc.)	Yes	-	Yes

Would you like to have more information?

To purchase one of our honeybee software products directly from us, the developers, or to obtain more information please contact us

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Version history

HoneybeeComplete Version 6.0 (current version)

Additional option to display of brood stages as coloured circles around cells.
Custom colours for the display of brood stages.
Additional features for marking cells.
Display of cells and brood stages when double clicking in the result tables (OECD 75 table and full evaluation table).
Option to edit cell content in the result tables (OECD 75 table and full evaluation table).
Bug fixes and minor improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 5.4

Minor improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 5.3

Bug removals.

HoneybeeComplete Version 5.2

Minor improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 5.1

Minor improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 5.0

Completely rewritten auto-recognition module, making the recognition more stable (several memory problems solved).
Increased recognition of addons for adults bees, old larvae, young larvae, eggs.
Inclusion of a new pollen recognition module (separate addon).
New option to limit the presence of brood or pollen to a specific part of the image (this replaces an option where only capped brood and capped nectar could be distinguished).
Removal of a few bugs.

HoneybeeComplete Version 4.2

Custom brood development schemes can now be used. Minor other improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 4.1

Removal of a bug occuring when loading files.

HoneybeeComplete Version 4.0

Addition of a new evaluation method for monitoring the frequency of brood stages over a longer time period (continuous hive evaluation).
Automatic recognition of nectar cells and capped honey cells. No separate recognition-addon is needed, this works in combination with addons for eggs, larvae, and capped brood.
Addition of an easy option for manual distinction of capped honey cells from capped brood cells using a polygon method.

HoneybeeComplete Version 3.1

Optimisations for displaying cell numbers and brood stage letters (clearer especially on dark background). Options to accept further deviations of larval and pupae development (e.g. 12 d pupae stage with 4 d larval stages) as normal brood development. Minor other improvements.

HoneybeeComplete Version 3.0

Capability to use autorecognition addons for automatic marking of cells and for recognition of empty cells, eggs, young larvae, old larvae and capped cells for evaluation of brood trials

HoneybeeComplete Version 2.1

Improved memory management

HoneybeeComplete Version 2.0

New evaluation module for coverage based on polygon areas
Option for enhanced auto-recognition for low image resolution

HoneybeeComplete Version 1.3

Optional restriction of auto-recognition to user defined areas of images
Optional recognition in all images of a project
Optional import of multiple photos at once

HoneybeeComplete Version 1.2

Added option for reduced memory usage for processing large amounts of images
Added compatibility for auto-recognition addons
Added evaluation based on coverage

HoneybeeComplete Version 1.1

Added watermark which disappears when copying prints (for GLP studies)
Minor improvements and bug fixes

Indicounter Version 4.0 (current version)

Completely rewritten auto-recognition module, making the recognition more stable (several memory problems solved).
Increased recognition of addons for adults bees, old larvae, young larvae, eggs.
Inclusion of a new pollen recognition module (separate addon).
Removal of a few bugs.

IndiCounter Version 3.1

Optimisations for displaying cell numbers and brood stage letters (clearer especially on dark background). Minor other improvements.

Indicounter Version 3.0

New evaluation module for coverage based on polygon areas
Option for enhanced auto-recognition for low image resolution
Improved memory management

IndiCounter Version 2.4

Optional restriction of auto-recognition to user defined areas of images
Optional recognition in all images of a project
Optionl import of multiple photos at once

IndiCounter Version 2.3

Added option for reduced memory usage for processing large amounts of images

IndiCounter Version 2.2

Added compatibility for auto-recognition addons
Added evaluation based on coverage

IndiCounter Version 2.1

Added watermark which disappears when copying prints (for GLP studies)

IndiCounter Version 2.0

New graphical interface
Minor improvements and bug fixes

IndiCounter Version 1.1

Minor improvements and bug fixes

Honeybee Brood Logger Version 3.0 (current version)

Added image gallery showing the development per cell for all cells (image export supported)

Honeybee Brood Logger Version 2.1

Evaluation with more than one comb per breeding fixation day (BFD) is supported
Evaluation according to OECD75 and a complete evaluation for all brood stages
Graphical evaluation for brood development
Possibility to accept a reduced duration of the larval stages of either 4, 5 or 6 days as normal development (see File>Settings)
Minor improvements and bug fixes

Honeybee Brood Logger Version 2.0

Evaluation with more than one comb per BFD is now supported
Evaluation according to OECD75 + a complete evaluation for all brood stages (including suggestions by Oomen et al. 1992)
Graphical evaluation for brood stages and the overall brood development
Graphs can be saved or copied to the clipboard
Possibility to allow a duration of the larval stages of 5 days only (see File>Settings)
The number of cells is now displayed for each comb and BFD on the top of the window
Active cells are marked more clearly (thicker border)
Location of tool boxes is memorised until the next start of the program
A number of minor improvements and bug fixes

Honeybee Brood Logger Version 1.5

OECD Symbols for brood stages are now displayed with a white border to enhance visibility for dark background
Trial period for demo version is now 30 days
Minor Bug fixes