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I am in north central florida, near Gainesville.
This past Sunday (5/4), at about 1:00 in the afternoon I noticed that there were many bees flying around the hive, not going anywhere in particular, just circling around. I have seen this sort of behavior before (orientation flights) but not on this scale. I went outside and watched it but within 15 minutes or so most bees had returned to the hive but a beard developed hanging from the screened bottom board. Sunday was the first warm & sunny day we have had in a while (85F) Just to be sure, I walked around the area to look for swarms but found none. The beard persists and has been there every time I have checked the hive since then (early morning, afternoon, evening). Today I looked under the bottom board and what appears to be a small beard from the front actually extends quite a ways under the bottom board and constitutes quite a few bees. The clump of bees is barely moving just kind of hanging there.
What am I dealing with? Is this an abandoned attempt at swarming. I thought it might be a typical bearding even to keep the numbers down in the hive during warm weather but the bees in the beard do not seem to be returning to the hive, or harvesting.
Some background: This hive is just a bit over 1 year old. The first year I got a slow start as my queen didn't survive the transfer of the nuc (or got left behind). By the end of the season I harvested a medium super of honey. I added that super back and the hive spent the winter (what we have of one) with a deep and 2 mediums. This spring I had intended to make a split but the hive was suffering under varroa mites so I treated with powdered sugar but did not split. The treatment worked well and the hive was quickly back on its feet. Last week I checked the hive and there was some room in the supers but they were almost full so I added another medium super (so all told, the hive is a single deep and 3 medium supers).
Edited to add: the hive continues to behave normally other than this clump underenath it. The remaining bees are happily harvesting. I have not opened it up to look inside as I'm not sure what I would be looking for.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Michael
This past Sunday (5/4), at about 1:00 in the afternoon I noticed that there were many bees flying around the hive, not going anywhere in particular, just circling around. I have seen this sort of behavior before (orientation flights) but not on this scale. I went outside and watched it but within 15 minutes or so most bees had returned to the hive but a beard developed hanging from the screened bottom board. Sunday was the first warm & sunny day we have had in a while (85F) Just to be sure, I walked around the area to look for swarms but found none. The beard persists and has been there every time I have checked the hive since then (early morning, afternoon, evening). Today I looked under the bottom board and what appears to be a small beard from the front actually extends quite a ways under the bottom board and constitutes quite a few bees. The clump of bees is barely moving just kind of hanging there.
What am I dealing with? Is this an abandoned attempt at swarming. I thought it might be a typical bearding even to keep the numbers down in the hive during warm weather but the bees in the beard do not seem to be returning to the hive, or harvesting.
Some background: This hive is just a bit over 1 year old. The first year I got a slow start as my queen didn't survive the transfer of the nuc (or got left behind). By the end of the season I harvested a medium super of honey. I added that super back and the hive spent the winter (what we have of one) with a deep and 2 mediums. This spring I had intended to make a split but the hive was suffering under varroa mites so I treated with powdered sugar but did not split. The treatment worked well and the hive was quickly back on its feet. Last week I checked the hive and there was some room in the supers but they were almost full so I added another medium super (so all told, the hive is a single deep and 3 medium supers).
Edited to add: the hive continues to behave normally other than this clump underenath it. The remaining bees are happily harvesting. I have not opened it up to look inside as I'm not sure what I would be looking for.
thanks in advance for any advice!
Michael