Allison interviews Pascal Brunner, CEO and Co-Founder of Lifehive, about their innovative technology that helps to keep beehives healthy. Their product kills the varroa mite, the most deadly parasite to honey bees, without using chemicals.
Lifehive has designed a Langstroth deep brood chamber and accompanying frames that replace most beekeepers’ standard chambers and frames. Each frame has a substrate onto which the bees build their hexagonal combs out of wax for brooding eggs. The Lifehive brood frame has a built-in heating element that heats the frame to a specific temperature and period, sufficient to kill the parasites without harming the bees’ eggs.
Multiple frames are clamped into the hive chamber ensuring proper electronic contact. The brood chamber has a control unit to maintain the proper temperature for the required period. Lifehive comes with a solar panel that can be placed anywhere near the hive and will deliver the required power. Alternatively, a plug connector can replace the solar panel to work with 110V or 230V grid power.
Lifehive is expected to launch in March 2025. Preorders can be placed at the link below.
Learn more at https://www.lifehive.io/
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Transcript of Interview:
Allison
When you’re walking down the aisle and you see somebody wearing a beekeeper suit, you know you got to stop and find out what they’re doing. I’m here with Pascal Brunner from Lifehive.
Pascal Brunner
Yes, hello. We have developed a solution for beekeepers and we help them to control a parasite called varroa mite, which is the most deadly parasite. And we do this by applying heat instead of chemicals.
Allison
Okay, I don’t know anything about beekeeping. You have something that looks kind of a honeycomb and it’s in a wood case and I know nothing else.
Pascal Brunner
Yeah, exactly. So inside of this frame, we have a heating element embedded right in the foundation and we heat up for three hours to 42 degrees centigrade, which is 108 degrees Fahrenheit. And this is like an in-floor heating for the bee brood, which kills the mites while the bees survive.
Allison
So is this fake honeycomb and you don’t put honeycomb in here?
Pascal Brunner
No, no. This is, you put this one into your hives. This is how beekeepers work.
Allison
Okay. So, yeah, like I said, I know nothing about beekeeping. I’ve seen people like pull hives out and rescue the bees, that kind of a thing, but I haven’t seen… Do the bees build wax on top of it?
Pascal Brunner
Yes. The bees build wax on that. Yeah, exactly. The bees, they build up their cells right on top of here and then they breed their baby bees in those cells. So this is how beekeeping is done at the moment, industrially as well.
Allison
Oh, I see. And why is it not naturally that they live in heated environments? You would think that if heat helps kill those parasites, it has no other side effects to the bees?
Pascal Brunner
No, there are no side effects. I mean, the bees, they control the hive climate very strictly. So normally it’s always like at 35 to 35.5 degrees. So they keep it very narrow and they regulate it. So if it’s too cold, they warm it up. If it’s too hot, they start ventilating.
Allison
The beekeepers do?
Pascal Brunner
No, the bees.
Allison
The bees themselves? The bees control the temperature?
Pascal Brunner
Yeah, exactly.
Allison
Wow.
Pascal Brunner
But with our treatments, we do a short-term treatment to 42 degrees centigrade, just on that frame, which helps killing this parasite while keeping the bees alive.
Allison
Wow.
And they’re okay with that little bit hotter temperature?
Pascal Brunner
Yeah, they are absolutely fine with that.
Allison
That’s fascinating. So who do you, how do you sell this product?
Pascal Brunner
We’re selling this to beekeepers and we’re launching on Kickstarter by the end of February 25.
Allison
Very good. And if you want to learn more about Lifehive, where would they go?
Pascal Brunner
To lifehive.io.
Allison
Lifehive.io. And do you know, oh, Steve wants to know how this is powered?
Pascal Brunner
It’s all solar-powered. So we have a battery and the solar panel per hive so that it can work on remote areas or somewhere out in the fields where you don’t have grid access.
Allison
Very good. This is really cool. I don’t know anything about what this should cost, but do you have an idea of a price point?
Pascal Brunner
Yeah. The price will be \$799 and with the Kickstarter campaign, you can get it at 30% discounted at $549.
Allison
So do you buy a hive or not just this one piece?
Pascal Brunner
The full hive, including solar and battery is all together as sold as one kit.
Allison
That’s way better than just this one piece then. Now I get it.
Pascal Brunner
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. You got it.
Allison
All right.
Thank you very much. This was really interesting.