[dgoodman]

Hello All,

Just a curious thing. The bees are milling about on the front of the hive - walking around on "the porch". This is a new behavior, as in the past they simply took off into the air, and didn't linger. Thoughts?

Thanks.

DG

 

[Tia]

No nectar flow? Nothing to do? Have you seen them washboarding?

 

[Michael Bush]

Heat? Lack of ventilation? Running out of room? It may just be the heat.

 

[David Stewart]

My guess is washboarding. I've watched mine change from lining up and moving in unison to individuals doing their own thing. I noticed something curious the other day. The flow appears to me to be over and the girls are getting protective. I watched the guard bees repell what can only be described as robbers (about one every 10-15min). The robbers would dart back and forth much like orientation flight except a little farther from the landing board and on a mission. As soon as they approached the landing board (seemed to aim for the side of the entrance) the guard bees would rise up in unison and repel them. One guard bee takes her job so serious that she will not let ANY bee in her little 2 square inch of landing board. No bee takes off, lands or walks through her domain...kind of humorous and entertaining to watch.

 

[dgoodman]

Stewaw,

Interesting. I have noticed a few combative moments on the ground in front of the hive. Initially, it had the look of tending to dead bees, but then I realized they're both alive and well...for the time being. Perhaps that's guard bees in action.

DG

 

[louis1st]

at the moment, i have also a lot of bees in the grass below on of the hives.... the bees are just trying to move away the grass!

It has been happening only very recently (since i started fogging them, and since the weather has become a lot warmer).

There are also a lot of guard bees at then entrance of this hive...

I don't think this is abnormal, I guess!