Entrance Congestion

[Ricko]

My son just came in at 8:45 p.m. and said my hive was swarming. I thought it was a little late in the day for a swarm to issue, so I went down to check on the hive. First let me say that this is a new hive of CarniÂ’s that I added a second deep super to and SBB this past weekend.
Looking at the hive I see that the bees are clustered the entire length of the opening and about 3 inches up on the front. There seem to be no bees coming, or going, theyÂ’ve pretty much clogged the entrance. I didnÂ’t see any fanning as though they were trying to cool the hive either. As I brushed some down off the front I noticed they seemed to be strung together. Let me add that the temp. today was 75 with a 83% humidity. It did rain today and became muggy afterwards. I lifted the top and there are bees working the new foundation in the top super. My guess is that theyÂ’re just hot and muggy , but the lack of fanning at the entrance puzzles me. As for the SBB, I do tend to think that it restricts the coming and going of the bees.
They donÂ’t seem to have it as easy as they once did when there was no SBB in place. There always seems to be a back up of bees now. Perhaps a bored hole in the upper super to allow an additional entrance and air flow might be needed. I donÂ’t want to offset the top super as the gap between the two may lead to robbing. My other two hives with the SBB also seem to have the back up congestion at the entrance, but not the clinging bees to the front of the hive. Any explainations?

[jfischer]

They are hot.
Just hot, nothing more.
Consider increased ventillation, using any
method you like.

[Scot Mc Pherson]

My bees cluster outside the hive all night long and disperse at the first ray of sun.

[Let_it _Bee]

Taking out the trays gives you allot more ventilation. I was having the same problem, it was like they were on strike or something. Incoming bees had the fight through the cluster to get in. I took out the tray for the SBB and that seemed to help.

[Michael Bush]

Like Jim said. Ventilate. Prop open the top, open up the SBB, drill a hole in the top super, put on a Imirie shim. Something to let the heat out the top and the cool air in the bottom.

[John Russell]

Bees will also be pro-active in their temperature control method. They will cluster outside not nessisarily because the interior temerature IS to warm but also to prevent it from being so with the addition of their numbers. ( Thus, clustered bees that are not fanning.)

J.R

[Ricko]

Thanks everyone! The bees did cling to the outside all night long, and at the first rays of morning they were back to business as normal!