Auditing to assess strength of European honey bee (Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758) colonies is critical for apiarists to manage colony health, and to meet conditions for pollination contracts. Colony strength assessments typically use either frame-by-frame inspection or a frame-top cluster-count method typically used during almond pollination servicing in Australia. These methods are invasive (with a risk of colony thermal disruption), visual, and subjective.

We investigated the potential use of temperature sensors to improve auditing data. Custom-built temperature sensor arrays were used to measure hive temperature through time and horizontal space within hives in an experimental apiary in Queensland, Australia. Temperature data were compared against colony strength determined by cluster count audit (Number of Frames, NOF).

This data set contains the raw temperature data and the bee colony strength data.