Tim has lots of good points, and I mostly agree.  Here's my response

Tim said:
>
>I think it this kind of technology will be pretty slow in catching on<

Yes, its only cost effective for large operations, or as a pricey toy for
hobbiests.

>the cost of readers and software will prohibit use.<

Absolutely, current reader/writers are pricey.  But a hand-held barcode
reader is on the way for early 2004, about $500.

>It unfortunately does little to discourage vandalism and theft. <
Can't help vandalism.  I'm looking for the guys that steal truckloads of
bees in California.

> cheap enough... the thief... can remove the devices or use the reader to
identify hives not protected by the device. <

Right know, readers are too expensive for the thief -- we'd provide them to
folks like Joe Traynor for hive recovery.  In 2 years, tags will hopefully
be so cheap (5 cents), everything wears them.

> And I wouldn't count on law enforcement agencies to have a reader, or for
bee inspectors to have one.<

Well, the bee associations may have to provide them, or a beekeeper who
lost a truckload (60+ colonies) (as happens in California)

>programs that are still fortunate enough to exist are only doing so by a
>narrow margin)<  I agree - its up to the beekeepers and beekeeping
associations, the government is not doing this for you.

>Hopefully, won't fall into ...trap as pet ID chips. different chips,
different readers<

We're going with the chips that the biggest retailer in the world will use
(the contracts are already in place).  That retailer in turn will require
all vendors to use the same chip.  Industry is standardizing, since it
wants to replace bar codes across the board.  There will more more than 1
RFID, but competing readers can already read the tag that we provide.

>several different locations on the animal to put them in.<

Unlike pit tags with inches of range, these tags are readable 10-12 ft
away.  Location on the marked item is of little concern.  These are NOT pit
tags.  They are read/re-writable, far cheaper, lighter, with a relatively
long standoff distance for reading.  They can be locked by the original
reader/writer, so that the thief can't alter the I.D.

>Never the less it would be an interesting inventory tracking system.  Scan
>supers as they are placed on hives, and scan and record weight when they
>return full of honey. <

You may have missed a point, we're can provide an automatic scale system
coupled to a reader for big honey processors. You won't have to record
anything.

>If they can tie it into a hand held computer with voice recognition, I
might be able to keep a useful set of notes one day. <

A reader in the form of a PCMCIA card will be available in a few months.
Pop it into a small computer, add voice recognition software, and you're
there (assuming you simplify voice commands for reliability, and that we
can provide the software to integrate).

Our challenge will be to provide the software that integrates beekeeping
inventory and management needs, and that can make sense of all of the
information.

However, in theory, if you start with an RFID tag on the cage of the queen
that you receive, and if you mount a reader on a truck, you may be able to
get much of the needed data without taking notes.  A chip on the fence post
I.D.s the yard, chips on the boxes track them from the day made to the day
discarded.  The readers can read multiple tags at one time.  Driving thru a
bee yard would inventory everything in it, and a GPS would locate the items
(where in the world at that time).  Another read as you leave would
inventory everything NOW in the yard and on the truck.  A reader at the
honey house would monitor everything coming in or going out. Trick is to
get it affordable, and the big retailers will do that for us.


>For now though I'm considering a good branding iron, and possibly
even branding the top bars, bottom boards, tops, etc.<

Well, using your own arguement, the first thing the thief will do is throw
away or cover the brands.  The thief can't SEE the RFID chips, if they are
embedded.


Having said that, Tim obviously spent time thinking this through, and
that's good.

Jerry

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