Bees clustering under OMF

[Allie M]

As always, apologies if this question has already been asked and answered somewhere on the forum.

On Saturday I changed the entrance block from the Thornes wasp proof one to the normal wooden one as the bees were struggling to get in and out of the hive. Since then (or at least I hadn’t noticed this before) there seem to be a fair few bees sitting under the OMF. I wonder if I have just confused them and they will eventually find their way back home, or would people suggest I take more positive action and shake them back in.

Thanks in advance for your advice and expertise.

 

[Blunt Spike]

Have they run out of space so they're overspilling outside and the omf provides a bit of warmth?

 

[Allie M]

Not sure, there seemed to be plenty of room last time I inspected, which was a week ago. I guess the only way to tell is to take a look..... There are still a lot under there.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I’ve had queens return from mating flights go under the omf floor , but could be space related .you will have to have a look I would carefully brush them of and put an inspection board in and use some pipe insulator pushed in the back to stop them doing it .
Also on a good flow bees will if the entrance is conjested go under the floor and exchange there nectar to receiving bees.

 

[Allie M]

Many thanks Mark - I am going to take a closer look this afternoon. Maybe using the wider entrance would help too.

 

[user 6228]

Bee didnt evolve with OMF floors so we should only really use them when we have to. They let in light and drafts(a lot) , and let out heat in both air and radiation that the bees are not behaviourally set up for.

 

[blackcloud]

Shake them off and put the tray in for a day or so

 

[enrico]

This is a very old complaint. What happens is the bees underfly the entrance. They don't realise they are under the floor. They think they are in the hive. You can often get a few hundred underneath. Then you get a cold spell and they all die. You may see them crawling round on the ground underneath. You can lose many bees this way. The answer is simple, block off the area between the landing board and the ground with a piece of net or wood or give them a bigger landing board. You won't have the problem again.