Uhhh what are they doing?

[jackalope]

Hi all,

First year novice here. I don't usually go near my hives in the morning, but I was by them at 6:30 and noticed them doing this - are they getting ready to swarm?

http://www.storm.ca/~vladhed/swarming_s.jpg

[Oldbee]

I don't have a lot of "experience" either but if I saw that, especially the way they are bunched on the bottom I might think they were about to swarm. You do have a notch for ventilation on the inner cover; maybe its not enough if it's been hot like here. Maybe they are REALLY crowded. Don't know, but I should go out to my hives EARLY in the morning once in a while too.

[Joseph Clemens]

Bees clustering on or around the entrance is not normally a sign of impending swarming. They do not ordinarily practice clustering in preparation for swarming.

[iddee]

Add another box or extract the top one and put it back. If you had looked at it last night at dusk, I think you would have seen twice as many. A colony expands when heated, and when the expansion gets larger than the hive, they move outside.

Not a sign of swarming, just a strong colony and hot weather.

[jackalope]

Well thanks for that!

[Brent Bean]

It’s called bearding, they do it if the weather is hot, that’s if it ever gets hot in Canada? It is one way they control the temperature in the hive, by getting a lot of body heat to the outside. I don’t see any ventilation holes in you supers, I would suggest drilling some. There are a lot of you bees not doing any work which means less honey for you.