21. Hive Advisor
Hive Advisor reads your inspection data and flags issues worth acting on. It is a rules-based suggestion engine — no AI, no guesswork. Every suggestion is derived directly from the numbers and observations you enter, matched against evidence-based thresholds from apiculture research and best practice.
All Hive Advisor features are free for every Bee Inspector account.
21.1 What Is Hive Advisor?
Hive Advisor evaluates each new inspection against a set of rules covering the five most common colony health concerns: swarm risk, queen and brood status, mite pressure, stores adequacy, and pest/disease detection.
Each rule produces a suggestion card with:
- A severity colour — Urgent (red), Attention (orange), Info (blue), or Positive (green).
- A short title describing the issue.
- A plain-language explanation of what was found and what to consider doing.
- The specific evidence from your inspection that triggered the rule.
21.2 Where Suggestions Appear
Suggestions appear in two places:
- Post-inspection panel — immediately after you save a new inspection, a panel slides up showing any active suggestions. Review them while the inspection is fresh in your mind and dismiss anything you have already addressed.
- Hive overview card — on the hive detail screen, a "Hive Advisor" card sits above the Supers section. It shows suggestions based on your most recent inspection. The card does not appear when there are no active suggestions.
21.3 Rule Categories
Swarm Risk
| Rule | Condition | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| SW-01 | Charged swarm cells — eggs or larvae already present | Urgent |
| SW-01b | Swarm cups noted but empty — no eggs or larvae yet | Info |
| SW-02 | Charged queen cells present but not classified as swarm or supersedure | Attention |
| SW-03 | Strong or Very Strong colony covering 80%+ of brood-box frames during swarm season, with no swarm cells already noted | Attention |
Queen & Brood
| Rule | Condition | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| QB-01 | No queen, eggs, or larvae seen — possible queenlessness | Urgent |
| QB-02 | No eggs seen but larvae present — queen may have stopped laying | Attention |
| QB-03 | Charged supersedure cells — eggs or larvae already present | Attention |
| QB-03b | Supersedure cups noted but empty | Info |
| QB-04 | Brood pattern rated Spotty or Poor on this inspection | Info |
QB-01 and QB-02 are suppressed for newly introduced queens (within 30 days of the introduction date), after recent splits (within 30 days), and whenever queen cells or supersedure cells are already present on this inspection.
Mite Pressure
| Rule | Condition | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| MT-01 | Mite wash result above 5% | Urgent |
| MT-02 | Mite wash result 3–5% — watch band | Attention |
| MT-03 | Varroa mites seen visually on this inspection but no mite wash recorded | Attention |
Stores & Feeding
| Rule | Condition | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| FD-01 | Honey stores rated Empty | Urgent |
| FD-02 | Honey stores rated Low | Urgent heading into fall, Attention otherwise |
| FD-03 | Pollen stores rated Empty or Low during spring buildup | Info |
Pests
| Rule | Condition | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| PS-01 | Small Hive Beetle recorded | Attention |
| PS-02 | Wax Moths recorded | Attention |
21.4 Dismissing Suggestions
Tap the X on any suggestion card to dismiss it. Dismissals are synced to your account so they persist across devices and sessions.
A dismissed suggestion will not reappear for that specific inspection. If the same issue is still present when you record your next inspection, Hive Advisor will flag it again based on the new data.
21.5 Beekeeper Region
Some rules are season-specific — for example, mite warnings are more urgent in late summer when there is still brood to treat before winter. To enable seasonal rules, tell the app where you keep your bees:
- Go to Account → Preferences.
- Tap Beekeeper Region.
- Select the option that best matches your location.
| Region | Examples |
|---|---|
| Northern Temperate | Canada, USA, UK, Europe, Northern Asia |
| Southern Temperate | Southern Australia, South Africa, temperate South America |
| Southern Hemisphere | New Zealand, Southern Chile and Argentina |
| Tropical / Year-Round | Central America, Northern Australia, Southeast Asia |
If no region is set, only year-round rules fire. Seasonal advice is disabled until you set a region.
21.6 Suppression Logic
Hive Advisor suppresses rules in specific situations to avoid spurious warnings:
- New queen (within 30 days) — brood-absence rules (QB-01, QB-02) are suppressed. A newly introduced queen needs up to 30 days from introduction before she is expected to be laying confirmed workers.
- Recent split (within 30 days) — swarm-risk and brood-absence rules are suppressed, since the split colony will be building up from a small population.
- Active queen cells — QB-01 and QB-02 are suppressed when swarm cells or supersedure cells are already flagged, to avoid duplicate alerts.
- Already dismissed — dismissed suggestions are hidden for the current inspection.
- Season — rules tagged as seasonal only fire in the relevant part of the year for your Beekeeper Region.
21.7 Turning Hive Advisor Off
If you prefer not to see suggestions, go to Account → Preferences and toggle off Hive Advisor. The post-inspection panel will not appear and the hive overview card will be hidden. Toggle it back on at any time to resume advice.