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Night time bee bearding/loitering outside the hive? (with pics)

3254 Views 7 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Bees In Miami
The white hive is a package, about 1 month old. Just noticed that these guys are just hanging out at night.
The light green hive is my hive that swarmed last week. its a year old hive. I caught the swarm and its doing the same thing. (no pic of that)

It was sunny and warm here in CT today. Getting colder this evening with a thunderstorm approaching. Maybe 65 degrees right now.

What the heck are they doing? I thought they stayed in the hive at night.

Stain Membrane-winged insect


Bee Membrane-winged insect Honeybee
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They beard on the outside at night when its hot inside and they need to cool it down. I live in the same area as you and today we had a rather warm and humid day and then it dropped this evening. They should go inside with the cool air.

What kind of ventilation do you have? I noticed with my hives, I had to open them up a bit more this week due to humidity and condensation inside the hive.
The green hive has a hole drilled in each box, there are 4 mediums. I also shimmed the inner cover with popsicle sticks to provide a bit of air flow
Mine do the same thing, and I get a large beard on the bottom, even the box front is covered. I took a closer look, some were fanning, and some were festooning. Notice on your hive it is only on one side of the entrance, so I think they are helping circulate air out of the hive. I recently had a an explosion of new bees, so it could also be a gathering spot for newbies learning to fly. The strange thing is they don't all go in at night, and I had a bunch that stayed out in a rain storm. Odd creatures.

New Bee Lady:p
The same in Germany:


Humidity and crowding bees during rain (and nighttime). Nothing to worry about. :thumbsup:
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You should see them out here in the desert. You'd think they didn't know they were supposed to go in the box.
I live in CT, and I saw a lot of that last summer. It seems like the hive should be cooler in the evening, but remember that you have a lot of foragers who were out all day returning to the hive. They add body heat. No need to worry.
Lose the reducer on the newer hive. That will help them. Beyond that it's totally normal.
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