bees under omf???

[rje66]

Just noticed the bees are under the mesh in the floor and above the inspection board.can't see any defects in the mesh. Is this normal behavior????.

 

[EKBee]

Is your Queen clipped?

 

[Hawklord]

Remove the brood box from the floor and put on new floor or in up turned roof, remove inspection tray and shake the bees into the brood box. Now you can have a look at the floor and see if there's a fault.

 

[megadyptes]

Just noticed the bees are under the mesh in the floor and above the inspection board.can't see any defects in the mesh. Is this normal behavior????.

Whenever i look at the underside of the OMF there are a handful of bees wandering around on it. It's also not uncommon to see our bees fly out of the hive, onto the OMF and then dissappear over the horizon a few seconds later. In our case, the queen has been clipped and marked, and she's not one of the bees on the OMF.

 

[wessexmario]

Bees use scent as much if not more than vision.
They can smell the hive from under the OMF so if they overshoot the entrance or approach from the wrong side they may follow the strongest hive scent, which may well be coming from the large area of the OMF rather than the smaller entrance.


If bees are continually undershooting the entrance, fit a landing board or a small vertical board to the stand under the entrance to stop the fly-through.
As far as the bee is concerned, from the outside there's not much difference between the slot at the front (entrance) and the slot at the back (gap for inspection board).

 

[user 6228]

Put a sheet of black corRex under the hive for a week or two

 

[enrico]

Bees use scent as much if not more than vision.
They can smell the hive from under the OMF so if they overshoot the entrance or approach from the wrong side they may follow the strongest hive scent, which may well be coming from the large area of the OMF rather than the smaller entrance.


If bees are continually undershooting the entrance, fit a landing board or a small vertical board to the stand under the entrance to stop the fly-through.
As far as the bee is concerned, from the outside there's not much difference between the slot at the front (entrance) and the slot at the back (gap for inspection board).

it is more common than you realise. On a cold night they will get so weak they will drop to the ground unable to climb back up or fly. Dead bees around the hive is often due to this under flying of the entrance. .
E

 

[BeeJayBee]

Just noticed the bees are under the mesh in the floor and above the inspection board. can't see any defects in the mesh. Is this normal behaviour????.

What the others have said should work, but why have you got the tray in?

 

[rje66]

Thanks for replies, sorry for delay in response
Queen is not clipped,New from an AS earlier thiss summer, but she is laying away
Hive has landing board,which is being used but many just seem happy enough squeezing between gap in inspection board, lots of bees not a few..
Inspection board.......no reason it's in, just always(2years Beek) left in, so a good idea to remove till I need to place it in for monitoring.
Will lift off BB on Sun to check the mesh, I made the floor so could be a small gap, but from memory it's a tight fit
Thanks again

 

[Millet]

Are the bee's squeezing behind the back of the hive robber's..?

 

[Arfermo]

You don't explain why the inspection boards is/was in but in any case, because bees can get between the OMF and the inspection board as they float around looking for the entrance, I always stuff the gap at the back with a foam wedge so they cant get in - and die because they are not clever enough to go back out the way they went in.

 

[rje66]

Are the bee's squeezing behind the back of the hive robber's..?

Hadn't thought of that
Yes kind of, but no sign of fighting. Will go over tomorrow to check as there are14 hives in the apairy����
Ta

 

[BeeJayBee]

Hive has landing board,which is being used but many just seem happy enough squeezing between gap in inspection board, lots of bees not a few..
Inspection board.......no reason it's in, just always(2years Beek) left in, so a good idea to remove till I need to place it in for monitoring.

Debris can collect on an inspection board because it can't be cleaned away by the bees. They would normally keep the 'floor' of their hive clear of any waste that can attract intruders or which could go mouldy. A permanent tray can also be a good place for wax moth to breed.

The board/tray only ever needs to be in place whilst monitoring the mite drop. The rest of the time it could be stored under the roof or in the bee shed.

 

[GlenJ]

Bees are always curious to find a new entrance. I've noticed that on one hive with a slightly height challenged entrance block, the returning bees are continuously trying to enter by the too narrow gap above the block.

 

[rje66]

Debris can collect on an inspection board because it can't be cleaned away by the bees. They would normally keep the 'floor' of their hive clear of any waste that can attract intruders or which could go mouldy. A permanent tray can also be a good place for wax moth to breed.

The board/tray only ever needs to be in place whilst monitoring the mite drop. The rest of the time it could be stored under the roof or in the bee shed.

Ok , thanks for the info, Will remove.

 

[rje66]

So I had a look at the mesh and sure enough there was a littlegap just wide enough for them to squeeze through, bit of duct tape, problem solved.
Thanks again for advice.

 

[Millet]

My inspection tray leave's a small gap of around 8mm at the back of my hive under the varroa mesh floor.. i have left it unblocked for a reason where i got the idea from looking at the European way in which they catch hornet's using the new type of Hornet trap below the hive..
I have caught several wasp's and what i believe to be robbing bee's that can not gain access to the guarded entrance block .. it may be the wrong thing to do but my hive does not seem bothered by me doing this..as all look's fine and dandy apart from lack of food stores..