[beezy12]

I am a new beekeeper...have had my hive 6-7 weeks. Everything going well until last week found a few beetles. figured out what to do and handling that fine. Also added honey super 2 weeks ago, bottom hive totally built out with gorgeous honey in 2 outer frames (very heavy) but no activity in honey super at all! Today my son notices many bees flying above hive so I go for closer look and there are many more bees than I normally see and they are flying erractically up 20 feet or so, zig zagging all over??? Then tonight I go out in the dark to ck for catefillars on my vege garden and decide to look at the bees at night...anyone ever done that (from a distance). Anyway, there were tons (100 maybe) sitting at the entrance and on the hive above the entrance. I am in FL but it is cool tonight so it can't be too hot in the hive can it. Is it too crowded in there? Is this normal? Can anyone speculate on what might be going on or am I worrying for nothing. Also, how long before they go upstairs to the honey super? Thanks so much...these changes make me nervous....fear of the unknown, I guess.

 

[GWD]

I have a few questions to try and better understand your situation.

1.How many Hives bodies do you have?

2. Are the hives bodies deep or medium?

3. Were these package bees or Nuc?

Thanks,
Greg

 

[beezy12]

Here are more specifics:
I have one 8 frame hive body
one shallow 8 frame honey super
bees came from a 5 frame nuc where comb on those 5 frames were built out and my 3 new ones empty.
What do you think? Thanks

 

[B Reeves]

did you check and make sure you do not have queen cells? they may have decided that they were crowded befor you put the super on, it is normal for them to hang out when they are warm,
Bob

 

[beezy12]

Hi Bob,
Yes, I cked all the frames on Sat. and there were no queen cells...however, the week before, there were 1-2 possible queen cells that I scaped off. So if they are too crowded, they will build the queen cells and then leave? I don't realy want more than 1 hive as I have them in my backyard which is not huge but certainly can contain 1 hive. If they are too crowded, why woudl they not go up to the honey super? Should I take out the queen excluder and let them have brood up there too?
Robin
by the way, they seem normal this morn...some at the entrance but not as many as last night.

 

[GWD]

The minimum size brood chamber is (1) Deep hive body and (1) medium hive body. Most people either use (2) deeps or (3) mediums just to have the same size equipment. Since you are only using (1) deep hive body for the entire brood chamber the queen will never have enough room to lay to her capacity and the bees will surely swarm. What I recommend is to remove the queen excluder and place a second "deep" hive body so the bees can start drawing out those new frames and the queen will have room to lay new eggs. Once the bees have filled up the second box and they are packing honey on the two outside frames then I would add the queen excluder and honey super. I hope this helps. Good luck

 

[Capricorn]

I think the crazy zig zag flying you saw was orientation flights. When new bees hatch out and are big enough to fly, they will all go out around the same time and buzz around to learn the ropes. It is a neat thing to see. I wondered if my hive was swarming the first time I saw it. The bearding at night can be a sign of high temp or crowding. Seems somewhat normal. Sometime people try to vent the hive a little if they think the bearding is an issue. Are you using screened bottom boards?

This last winter was the first time I overwintered bees, so take my comments with a grain of salt.