are bearding bees lazy?

[jmgi]

One of my hives has been bearding excessively lately in this hot weather, and it got me to thinking what the bearding bees is composed of. Is it mostly unemployed nurse bees and house bees, or is it foragers. I'm thinking that it is mostly foragers because before sunrise the bearding is heavy, but after sunrise and the bees start going out to the field the bearding shrinks quickly down to practically nothing. But towards noon or so the bearding starts building slowly again and reaches its peak in the evening. If it is mainly foragers, why do they quit work so early in the day when a honey flow is going on big time here? I mean there must be close to two pounds of bees hanging on the front of the hive and under the bottom board. I know it is hot, but none of my other hives nearby are doing it to this extent. John

[beeware10]

sounds to me this may be your best hive and are crowded. give them another super before they the get the idea to swarm. usually they come out because its too hot in the hive.

[jmgi]

You are right, it is one of my strongest hives and I have had to remove a few queen cells lately from it, so they are probably telling me something that I better listen to. John

[Fl_Beak]

down here I tend to put on a warped plywood cover, to provide additional ventilation...IF overcrowding isn't the problem.

[Oldbee]

Lazy?

No, I don't think they are lazy, at least not on purpose. Although we might assume that the hives of the same size in number of boxes would have the same number of bees, they could vary in population by 5-10-15 thousand and that might make a difference in which ones beard and which do not. This helps to regulate hive temperature. At times there may be an imbalance of age related activities of worker bees, and this might be the reason for washboarding; another seemingly useless activity of the bees.

[Michael Bush]

>I have had to remove a few queen cells lately from it

I never do that...

[Adrian Quiney WI]

If it is not too much work you could swap that hive with a weaker one in the apiary to balance them out.

[beeware10]

If they are making swarm cells they will.

[Joseph Clemens]

Around here, once it gets in the high ninety's Fahrenheit they seem to come home and stay home (disclaimer: there always seem to be a few that continue foraging - probably water gatherers), probably too stressful to continue foraging during the hottest time of the day. They start foraging again as soon as it starts cooling down. It mostly only inhibits them for a few hours each day, but might be a factor inspiring bearding. Most bearding on mine happens right as the sun goes down and most everybody is home again.

[SRatcliff]

Are certain bees devoted to temperature control only, for a certain time in their life? When its too hot, by staying as far away from the brood as possible, is that not an act of temperature control?

[jbeshearse]

I had a thought while watching my observation hive today. I have noticed that they have been bearding more and earlier in the day the last few days. They are certainly overcrowded and I will move them to a full sized hive tomorrow.

But it occurs to me that they have started beardeing earlier and more because they run out of room to store the nectar for drying earlier in the day. The returning foragers have nowhere to put their load so they simply beard up. Overnight some of the nectar is consumed in the hive and more is consumed. So in the morning the foragers can offload and go out foraging.

So a cramped hot hive will beard more and earlier each day until the congestion is relieved. Does that sound reasonable?

[max2]

>I have had to remove a few queen cells lately from it

I never do that...

I would not either. Sounds like an exeptional hive. Why not do a split or two?

[SRatcliff]

I would not either. Sounds like an exeptional hive. Why not do a split or two?

If you have the resources to make a split with the cells, without compromising your productive hive, I'd say go for it. If you don't and the hive has eggs to back you up, I don't think there is anything wrong with cutting out swarm cells that were made due to a beekeeper's management mistakes.

[KatGold]

I am very new and I need your advice folks!

I started my hive April 8th. I'm using a TBH and by week 6, they had drawn down 10 bars of wax. As of today, there are 11 bars drawn down. There are 17 bars available. The bees have been bearding for a few days now. Yes it's suddenly gotten hot here (low 90sF/32C) in the mid-afternoon, but they've been bearding as early at 7 in the morning when the temps have been near 77C/25C (with high humidity).

They get full sun, which I think I want because as I understand it the full sun helps them be less susceptible to mites.

I can't imagine that it's the heat that's causing it. It doesn't seem hot enough. Though, nor can I imagine them being overcrowded. I started with a package just 8 weeks ago. They still have 6 bars that they have not even begun to draw down.

Any ideas on what's going on here?

Many thanks!
Kat

[Rick 1456]

LOL, The lazy bees are hiding on top of the inner cover

[Joseph Clemens]

KatGold,

How is your TBH designed? What kind of ventilation does it have?

Where is/are the entrance/entrances? Are there any screened vents?

[Tom Davidson]

My two big hives constantly bearded, even on very cool nights. I built and added two slatted racks and they haven't bearded since, even on hot nights, so far. The extra congregating space underneath the brood nest greatly eases congestion. My nucs, though, without the racks are constantly bearding. Personally, I love hanging out by the hives a bit at night to catch the magical buzz of bearding bees with that smell of honey drifting by.

[waynesgarden]

If it is mainly foragers, why do they quit work so early in the day when a honey flow is going on big time here?

Around here, we have a low-growing yellow flower that looks like a dandelion but isn't. It carpets lawns just like dandelions and every morning the bees work it like crazy, just like dandelions. But come the afternoon, the blossoms close up for the day and the bees are nowhere to be seen. Maybe your hive is working a source with a similar schedule?

(Anyone know what the flower I'm talking about is called? I don't remember it from my previous life in NY. It doesn't have the broad leaves of a dandelion, just a similar flower though it doesn't form the big seed puffs.).

Wayne

[jenniealice]

(Anyone know what the flower I'm talking about is called? I don't remember it from my previous life in NY. It doesn't have the broad leaves of a dandelion, just a similar flower though it doesn't form the big seed puffs.).
Wayne

I also have a non-dandelion that I looked up recently (hawksweed & catsear). I don't know if Maine has a database like CA does, but Calflora.org helped me identify the flowers. It seems some states have a database like this for biologists & hobbyists to map species (pretty cool resource).

[Ledge]

I know which one you mean, but don't know the name of it. It's green parts are a bit hairy, whereas a dandelion is more smooth. Catsear maybe? Google images don't look quite right for that.