Good news and Bad news

[Mike the Rookie]

Well, on one hand, I can't be mad. I just got home from vacation yesterday, and when I went out to the beeyard to take a quick peek, I noticed berries everywhere. It only took a few seconds for it to occur to me to look up. It seems I intalled my hive directly under a HUGE blackberry tree. I had been wondering what it was since I moved into the house last September, and they must have come into season while I was away!

I am not sure about the biology involved here, (Pollination, nectar, etc.,) but I have to believe this is a good thing for the bees. Even if not, hell the berries are still delicious! And I thought things were good when I discovered honeysuckles about 30 feet down the stream from the hive!

Of course, I have been thrown a new curveball. A wall of bees is covering about a third of the front of the hive. I suspect that they are just trying to cool things down, as it was perditiously hot today, but its still too soon to tell. I'll go out tonight after dusk and try to set something up to shade the hive during the afternoon hours. I had been watching for sunlight exposure before I left, but now they really have the sun beating on them from AT LEAST 3pm to 6pm.

I'll have to see what can be done.

[kbee]

I think you might have a mulberry tree. The fruits look like blackberries but have a stem. They taste somewhat bland to me but are ok. Most likely your bees pollinated the tree. Bearding on the outside of the hive is common in hot weather. It's important to have adequate ventilation. Do you have notches in your inner cover or the lid propped up a little? some people use popsicle sticks to shim up the front edge.

[Mike the Rookie]

I think you are right about it being a mulberry tree. These fruit did have a light green stem.

I took some some ventilation/cooling measures this morning. Used the popsicle stick trick. 1/2 a stick shimmed at each corner between the inner cover and the top honey super. Also canted the top cover a bit. Don't want to leave it that way, but I figure just until this heat wave passes.

Also, clipped some tree trimmings to the fence around the yard in such a way to dapple that brutal early afternoon sun.

Noticed substantially less "bearding" today.

Thanks.