[Phoebee]

Some days both of my hives seem to hold Happy Hour from about 3-4 PM. A huge number of them come out and just fly around in front of the hive. The temperature was not excessive during Monday's party, and in fact I'd just opened the lower vents on the SBB, so they should have been running a little cooler than normal. Most of the flying seems to be orientation flights.

I did notice one carpenter bee investigating a hive. Maybe one of those rascals tried to enter and set off a defensive flurry? Who knows what goes on in the Hive Mind?

 

[crabbydad]

probably just orientation flights

 

[laketrout]

I'm glad to hear that its not robbing , what does robbing look like .

 

[Bees In Miami]

Robbing turns loud and ugly...fighting on the landing boards, bees falling to the ground half dead, etc. UGLY. Orientation flights are quiet...the bees usually walk a bit up the front of the hive, take off, make a few circles, land, and repeat...and repeat, with the circles getting a bit larger each time. Take note on your watch what time of day it is. It usually happens about the same time on each hive each day (though orientation time from hive to hive varies). Orientations usually last about 15 minutes...robbing lasts ALL day!

 

[laketrout]

There was a definite loud buzz going on and for the most part it looked like Alot of bee's in the air waiting to get in the hive .Now that I think about it this was the nuc that was very full of bee's .I'm going to check them out today sometime and see if there still over crowded and if so switch nuc location and try to even them out some .