Bees Gathering on the outside of hive

[Abbee]

Hi there.
This afternoon we noticed bees gathering on the front of one hive above the entrance. The bees are not flying around. They are all calm and just bunched together and the group is getting bigger and bigger.

at the moment its a triangle shape pointing up about the size of a sheet of A4

I've attached an photo
Any ideas what this could mean?

Jen

 

[For want of a better word]

Too hot inside... the books all say ...put some matchsticks under the crownboard to increase ventilation.

Nos da

 

[Abbee]

Gosh yea makes sense. We moved over a month ago and the bees settled really quickly but completely forgot to do that!
Thanks icanhopit
Jen

 

[sbisme]

Perhaps this should have been posted in the beginnings section hence the piss take

put some matchsticks under the crownboard to increase ventilation.

Nos da

My bees often do the same they could be ripping the honey or just chilling on a warm evening.

 

[B+.]

the books all say ...put some matchsticks under the crownboard to increase ventilation.

Isn't it too soon for the whole "matchstick" thing? Wouldn't it just be better to say "provide more ventilation" (e.g. remove the entrance block)?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi there.
This afternoon we noticed bees gathering on the front of one hive above the entrance. The bees are not flying around. They are all calm and just bunched together and the group is getting bigger and bigger.

at the moment its a triangle shape pointing up about the size of a sheet of A4

I've attached an photo
Any ideas what this could mean?

Jen

They do that sometimes. My strongest hives are doing that as I type.
There's a steady hum inside as the colony is ripening honey.

 

[user 6228]

Haven't seen any evidence about the "too hot" can anyone provide some I.e. Actual measurements?
Have seen supposition but no evidence

 

[B+.]

Haven't seen any evidence about the "too hot" can anyone provide some I.e. Actual measurements?

Slow down DerekM.
It looks to me like the entrance blocks are in all those hives. Can we also assume that they are solid floors?
My guess is that those poor bees are just trying to stay cool.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Gosh yea makes sense. We moved over a month ago and the bees settled really quickly but completely forgot to do that!
Thanks icanhopit
Jen

Noooooo! no matchsticks FFS that kind of teaching went out with the ark - OMF or solid floors? (not that it matters much) they're just moving out to leave more room for air circulation, no big deal.
If bees can survive in Southern Africa in a hived with a tin roof, solid floor and a one inch entrance without overheating, they can definitely cope over here!!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Slow down DerekM.
It looks to me like the entrance blocks are in all those hives. Can we also assume that they are solid floors?
My guess is that those poor bees are just trying to stay cool.

I have huge beards on my stronger hives, OMF and blocks out, on a moderate hive, OMF out block in, a small one on a recently-hived nuc, good beards on strong nucs, none on weak ones and even a beard on an Apidea. It's just something they like to do on warm evenings this year AFAICS. ADD; circulating air as @jenkinsbrynmair says. Mine seem to be ripening something despite it having rained much of the day. Old Man's Beard I suspect.

 

[Truble]

Slow down DerekM.
It looks to me like the entrance blocks are in all those hives. Can we also assume that they are solid floors?
My guess is that those poor bees are just trying to stay cool.

Have the same going in on in few of my hives, fully open entrances, open mesh floors and extra entrances in the supers. Cool drizzly evening. Damn nuiscance as moving them to the Heather tomorrow.....just hope they are all back inside before Sun up.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Have the same going in on in few of my hives, fully open entrances, open mesh floors and extra entrances in the supers. Cool drizzly evening. Damn nuiscance as moving them to the Heather tomorrow.....just hope they are all back inside before Sun up.

Spray water to back up the drizzle. Or a whiff of smoke.

 

[Truble]

Smoking them didn't have any effect. Will reasess in the morning. Too late to be spraying them now.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

moved a nuc last week the same - they wouldn't go in so I closed the entrance to the ventilated sector and they travelled up to the top apiary sat on the outside of the hive - they were still there when I got there, I think they enjoyed the ride.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Spray water to back up the drizzle. Or a whiff of smoke.

Find that works well, plus moving them last thing in the evening when flying has stopped for the day, and smaller clusters on the outside, if any, compared to the larger ones just before daybreak, plus they get the rest of the night to settle down and come out in their own good time in the morning to orientate in the new location.

 

[MartinL]

Seems they only ever do this in the summer so has to be something to do with heat or possibly humidity.

Look at it as their equivalent of the pub beer garden?

Due to imminent building works, the two colonies (on the previously flat roof are now enclosed beneath a pitched slated roof. It gets hot up there now (hot with a capital "F"). They have taken to flying around (inside what will eventually be the loft space) when it gets too hot for them. Spraying the gravel path & wall below cools it all down & seems to calm them down again.

 

[OursonAnglaise]

I saw this regulary last year - not so much this year, (yet!).

When I returned home on a Friday I often found them just hanging about on the outside of the box. My husband said that they must know that its POETS day, & it's time to parrrrrtttttayyyyy

 

[user 6228]

Slow down DerekM.
It looks to me like the entrance blocks are in all those hives. Can we also assume that they are solid floors?
My guess is that those poor bees are just trying to stay cool.

If they are suffering from too high a solar gain, because they are in a thin wooden hive, fix the problem at source rather than muck up the internal air flow & humidity. So shade or stick reflective ally foil on the sunny side (or re hive in poly).
Then if they are coming out in early evening its something else...
Getting out of the way of honey ripening ? All that fanning is not necessarily for keeping cool but it is moving air and there can be other reasons for moving air

 

[Finman]

-
Hive is crowded or it is full of honey. Nothing to do with ventilation if you have a mesh floor.


Give more room


A small colony and the smaller hive.

2 boxes in the middle of summer is not much.

 

[Finman]

If they are suffering from too high a solar gain, air

Yes they do. Day temp maximums are about 20-22C. It is like a desert.

Call fire station...

But first put a third box in the hive between honey box and brood box with some foundations.

Other hives are small too. What are they? How many frames those hives have honey and how many frames brood?