Meli is Nectar’s audio-based hive diagnostics tool, designed to help commercial beekeepers evaluate hive conditions faster and at greater scale using 15-second hive sound recordings.

Instead of opening every hive to estimate colony conditions manually, Meli gives workers near-instant readings of hive health and performance that can be used throughout Nectar to support operational decisions related to nutrition, pollination, splits, queens, varroa management, and more.

This guide explains:

For step-by-step instructions on specific tasks, this guide links to more detailed Help Center articles throughout.

To learn how Meli can be used across operational workflows in Nectar, read part two of this guide.

Meli is Nectar’s audio hive diagnostics tool. By recording sound at the hive entrance through the Nectar mobile app, Meli analyzes patterns in bee activity and generates predictions related to:

Meli helps operations:

Unlike traditional inspections that require opening hives individually, Meli allows beekeepers to collect information quickly across entire yards.

As more recordings are processed and validated against field observations, the prediction model continues improving over time.

Different hive conditions produce different sound signatures.

Meli has been trained on thousands of hive audio recordings and learns to associate certain acoustic patterns with specific hive conditions. When a worker records hive audio, the system compares that recording against learned patterns to generate predictions.

Meli learns at both the “global” level and the operation-specific level, integrating audio, time, geolocation, and recording device information.

When you first start using Meli, predictions come from the “global” model. After 400 recordings, it learns enough about your grading patterns to start making operation-specific predictions. This helps Meli account for differences in your operations grading patterns (i.e. how you count varroa, measure FoB).

While there are some differences in the audio signature of hives under different conditions, they are not significant enough to meaningfully impact Meli results. As a result:

Workers can record hive audio directly from the Nectar mobile app.

To use Meli:

Meli recordings can be collected using:

The Meli Audio Stick is designed to make recording easier and more consistent in field conditions.

Meli is also designed to filter out some external noise, but cleaner recordings generally produce better results. When possible, workers should minimize nearby:

Meli is currently available to purchase by all Nectar users. If you are interested in enabling Meli for your operation, contact Aaron Toma: [email protected].

At this time:

Any modern iOS or Android smartphone can be used with Meli. For the best experience, Nectar recommends NFC-enabled phones.

Different microphones and devices may produce slightly different recordings, but Meli is designed to process recordings as long as the audio is sufficiently clear.

For the highest performance recordings we recommend using the Meli Audio Stick.

Calibration is the process of validating Meli predictions against traditional inspection methods in the field, in order to:

Calibration is not required for Meli to function. However, operations that complete calibration are currently seeing higher accuracy and greater confidence in use within their operations.

During calibration, workers record hive audio clips and then validate all three of Meli’s predictions against their own traditional hive inspections.

If manual inspection will happen later, workers can still submit the recording and enter the inspection results afterward with a regular hive inspection form.

Over time, this feedback loop helps improve the model’s understanding of your operation while also giving your team visibility into how Meli performs under real field conditions.

Meli’s accuracy improves as more calibration inspections are completed. However, the most important measurement is how Meli performs inside your own operation.

Operations participating in calibration receive ongoing visibility into Meli’s accuracy through calibration dashboards and performance reporting. This allows managers to monitor how accuracy evolves over time.

The number of free recordings available during calibration depends on your Nectar plan, as follows: