Why is there ALOT of Bee's under the hive??????

[ttthay]

Why would one of my hives have ALOT of bee's underneath the bottom board. This hive does have a screenbottom in it, as do the others. The hive is not overcrowded and has room in the upper suppers. I guess this could be a small swarm? Any other suggestions? THanks

[Tom Chaudoir]

(Newbee talking here.)

I seem to always have a few bees under the screen. They shouldn't be able to get there, but do. I figure there's a wide spot somewhere and they have trouble finding it again. A bee trap sort of. Maybe your trap is working better than mine. Eyeball your screen and look for a wide place.

(Now with a bit more confidence.)
It's not a swarm unless there's a queen under there. If your only queen is trapped in the basement it would be a problem. Not much chance of that though. She'd need an even bigger gap, and there's no reason for her to want to go down there.

[brent.roberts]

I had a Beemax styrofoam screened bottom board and the tray fit so loosely that they would walk down and under and forage the tray for dropped pollen balls, then carry them home.

Somewhat defeated the idea of catching the mites in the bottom trays. Replaced the Beemax bottoms with the new VIZ plastic bases with screens, trays and ant guards built in. Like them so far but it's early.

[Curtis]

ttthay,
It's most likely with the heat and humidity that we have had lately that it is just too hot and humid in there for all of them.
Curtis

[Michael Bush]

Bearding is a typical thing on a hot day. A SBB is a place they like to beard. But I've also heard of swarms collecting under a SBB especially if you have a clipped queen. See if they go in on cool days. Make some more ventilation. make sure they have room in the supers.

[Oyster]

I had TONS of bees under my SBB, and they even began to build comb! I thought it might be happening because the Betterbee pollen trap was restricting their ability to enter the hive too much. I scraped off the comb and removed the pollen trap to another hive. There are now much fewer bees under the SBB. Coincidence? The other hives that have the pollen traps never exhibited that much bearding under the SSB.

[Michael Bush]

Better Bee's SBB has #6 hardware cloth on it. A bee will fit through #6 hardware cloth. The pollen trap probably rerouted them through the bottom board.

[ttthay]

These bees are just going under the SBB from the back of the hive, and they do not go in whenthe weather is cool. I am going to look for another queen tomorrow. I know there is a good queen in the broodbox.

[Michael Bush]

Maybe you have a swarm hanging on the bottom.

[honeyman46408]

""Maybe you have a swarm hanging on the bottom""

I tried to hive a swarm in a hive sith SBB once and when I dunped to bees in front of the hive a lot of them went under the hive so Michael has a good point AS ALWAYS!

[GaSteve]

>Maybe you have a swarm hanging on the bottom.

That happened to me earlier this year. When I finally realized it was a swarm and hived them, I saw my marked queen had badly frayed wings. I'm not sure if she was injured in leaving through the pollen trap or if the swarm decided to come back for some reason and she couldn't get back through the trap. Anyway I gave them a frame of eggs from another hive and they quickly made queen cells and superceded her. They have grown like crazy since then.