bees clustered underneath hive

[Cedar]

Hi all,
we just finished building apiary, phoned dad with intention of moveing hives over tonight, he says the bees on one hive are clustered on the under side, its omf and queen is not clipped, any ideas please.
Thanks

 

[VEG]

I had some that used to do this and build comb underneath despite supers on. Th only way I stopped them was to remove the wax and bees and put the board in for a while.
First thing to do is check for a queen in the cluster underneath.

 

[Cedar]

Thanks Ill do that in the morning, I only managed to move two hives today so if brushing of is ok ill do that and put them brood box. then move in the evening.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

How about you lift the BB off the OMF, turn the floor over with the cluster on it, put the BB back on, the cluster is now inside the hive. Tape up the gap that the board normally slides in, which is now a large entrance.
Move the hive, then at the new location, reverse the operation, the bee might have moved up in to the BB by then.

Brian

 

[Skyhook]

Not that unusual, they just get a bit confused coming home as they can smell the hive through the mesh. Brushing is fine to get them back in (if you have a spare floor put this next to the hive and move them across onto it), then put the board in for a few days until they've got the hang of it. Mke sure there's no holes or gaps- as in a recent post, they can still confuse these for the entrance. If they then do it again, alter your hive stand/ add a landing board/ put an empty super under the floor to make it more obvious.

 

[Cedar]

Thanks, that particular hive has a very small landing board and with in being quite large active colony and a small entrance due to wasps they might try to get in from underneath, shall have to enlarge landing board. thanks again.

 

[Peteinuk]

I've discovered the same thing after being away for a couple of weeks, my brood box has no brood but is full of honey. The bees seem to be building under the hive. Do I need to put in a couple of empty brood frames to encourage the bees to stay inside? I'm hoping the queen is under the OMF because there's no sign of her inside the brood box. Would the bees still cluster underneath if the queen is missing for any reason?

 

[Black Comb]

Every time I've moved hives there have been a few under some.
It's never been a problem as once the vehicle starts moving they get disorientated and cling to the back window. I drive with my bee suit on (but with hood down). OPen the rear windows and they may go out. They never seem to come to the front (well not yet anyway).

 

[richardbees]

Peteinuk

As you've realised - you HAVE got a problem!

It's unlikely the Q would have left...but who knows? Assume you're omf?

You have to physically move those bees back into the hive to find out. It depends on what equipment you have. My choice is to first put the box of honey to one side then reverse the floor so the bees are on top, put an empty bb (or super) on top and gently add a few frames of foundation around whatever the bees have made. Then put on a QE then the box of honey. Finally seal the omf.

Are you able to do this?

ps

obviously you'll have to devise a shallow frame with entrance to put on the now upside down floor!

richard

 

[viridens]

Some of my hives with OMFs, both national and topbar, have a regular cluster of bees underneath (a hundred or more) day and night for no apparent reason. I'm not sure if they are just dimblebees who haven't mastered the hive entrance, or maybe they have B.O. (bee odour? ) and aren't allowed in. Who knows?

I would say don't worry unless the cluster is a large one, a significant proportion of the hive population. That indicates a problem like a queen outside, which can happen after a major disturbance.

 

[Cedar]

Hi well for better or worse set up hive stand and new floor next existing hive transfered brood box across on to new floor put empty brood box on top then shook oold floor with sworm like cluster and a covering of about 2" of bees, then same with hive stand, then drove bees into lower box with a little smoke and removed empty brood box and closed up. when we did inspection this morning their were loads of capped brood some larvae in various stages but not a huge amount of eggs, did not see queen. I am wondering if they are getting ready to reduce the size of colony for winter!

 

[Cedar]

hi,
we have now moved our two hive and dads two to a new location, his hives the bees are still clustering under the hive in large numbers swarm size clusters were as our hives which have slightly smaller size colonys in only have a hand full under neath, could it be they are feeling crowded or may be because its been quite warm even at night its not going below 6 deg. this number of bees under neath sort of defeats having a varroa floor really. any ideas would be great or do we just leave them to get on with it.

 

[richardbees]

Cedar

Can you put a tray immediately underyour omf, so the cluster underneath has no contact with the interior of the hive?

There is something wrong with your hive make-up but i can't work out what it is!

richard

 

[Skyhook]

Can you post some pics- of the cluster and details of the floor, entrance etc? There's an answer there somewhere.

 

[Cedar]

Will try to take some piccs this pm if the rain eases off. We have 2 hives with the same problem, both my dads, and as he is retired and enjoys wood work he has made both the Langstroth and the National. Sadly he is not up to the job and we have already had to make some adjustments size wize. Tho' fortunatelly my OH is a chippy.

Hard to tell an Old man he is doing it all wrong when it was supposed to be his hobby. He has gone in to have his heart bypass, maybe things will improve when he is better.

Watch this space

 

[drstitson]

odd that you're running both Nat and LS - making things hard for yourselves.

DOI: i do but have specific reasons and enough colonies to allow sharing.

 

[user 6228]

A bee proof mesh instead of the varoa tray or a curtain on the side of the entrance underneath the hive or both. My bees did with a hive from th $%^ . They tried it with the nuc I made. Its probably not the hive, just the bees using "worrythebeek tactic" nr 0477

 

[richardbees]

Cedar

....."Hard to tell an Old man he is doing it all wrong when it was supposed to be his hobby. He has gone in to have his heart bypass, maybe things will improve when he is better."

Obviously...Yes I agree.

But something is wrong! They're clustering underneath as they're attracted by the hive 'scent / pheromone' - it seems to me your entrance isn't somehow correct.

Good luck...keep posting as there's enough expertise on this forum to sort it out!

regards, richard

 

[Cedar]

bees clustering underneath hive

Hi, Well it finally stopped raining so I could go out and take some pictures.
View attachment 4832
This is the back of National.
View attachment 4833
Underneath National
View attachment 4834
This is the back of the Langstroth
View attachment 4835
Underside of Langstroth
View attachment 4836
This is the original floor from the national before we moved the hives.

I would appreciate any thoughts you have to give.

Thanks

 

[North West Bees]

Ceder
Looking at your pics I think you have too many bees in your hive set up, try adding another super then turning your floor the other way up or brush the bees onto a frame and add to the new super.
hope this helps