From time to time I have observed that a very small number of bees will overnight at the entrance of my top bar hive which was started this year with a package. Usually it has only been only 10-15 bees. This morning though I noticed a larger cluster - perhaps the size of your hand. About thirty minutes later many of them were slowly moving about and some were going into the entrance.
Is this typical or could the hive be overcrowded in some way?
I should note that the hive has been expanding nicely and a week ago had the equivalent of about 5+ bars of capped brood in a broodnest that was about 11 bars with an additional 4 bars of stored honey. I inserted by checker boarding three blank bars in the broodnest for them to build out at that time in addition to adding some blank bars at the back end for more honey storage.
Thanks,
Kevin
Is this typical or could the hive be overcrowded in some way?
I should note that the hive has been expanding nicely and a week ago had the equivalent of about 5+ bars of capped brood in a broodnest that was about 11 bars with an additional 4 bars of stored honey. I inserted by checker boarding three blank bars in the broodnest for them to build out at that time in addition to adding some blank bars at the back end for more honey storage.
Thanks,
Kevin