In many types of applied and fundamental studies involving honeybees, it is necessary to evaluate the populations of adult bees and brood of various ages, as well as assess quantities of nectar, honey, bee bread and pollen. In order to establish how the structure of the colony changes over time, such assessments may be made repeatedly. 

ColEval: Honeybee COLony Structure EVALuation for Field Surveys (Hernandes 2020) is a common method for such assessments where reference photographs of frames are used for training and the proportion of comb covered by bees, brood, etc. are assessed visually. By comparing assessments with known values, bias and errors can be identified, and corrected.

PoshBee's Photo Archive for Evaluation of Honeybee Colony Populations in Field and Semi-Field Studies

However, existing archive photos are limited to certain hive types, such as Dadant and Langstroth, which may not suit smaller hives and colonies. To make up for that, PoshBee members Matthew Allan and Robin Dean have compiled a comprehensive collection of over 600 photos specifically featuring brood and adult honeybees on Mini Plus Beute (MPB) (200 wide x 135mm) — a popular choice among researchers working with smaller setups.

Visit PoshBee’s Technical Innovations page to access the full data package consisting of a set of photos showcasing adult bees and brood on MPB frames, along with a helpful spreadsheet illustrating the correlation between the number of adult bees and the proportion of comb covered by them.