Bees clustering outside hive

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BB King

New Bee
Joined
Apr 9, 2011
Messages
35
Reaction score
12
Location
Norfolk
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
10
End of last week when temp in Norfolk was 21degrees I merged a queenless hive with a Q+ hive using paper. The temperature by the start of this week 3 days later dropped to 10degrees and last night a slight frost. I was passing the apiary and called in to retrieve a hive tool and found two small clusters of bees just under the roof and one on the pallet supporting the hive. The clusters were chilled and very lethargic. I moved them to the hive entrance hopefully to allow them to re enter. After a few minutes a few flying bees started returning to the cluster patch.
I’m not sure what this behaviour is. There was/is a Q/E between the two colonies on merging. Any ideas?
 

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not sure what this behaviour is
Bees are often confused during such upheavals and sort themselves out by the next day. Cold weather will have prevented movement this week, and in these situations I collect and put them in the box feeder (used as a CB), so they can warm up and go down.
 

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