Entrance too small???

[Vanterrier]

Today I took a quick look to see how they are doing and am a bit worried by what I saw...
View attachment 20231009_140308.mp4

So, it looks like the entrance is too small at 50mm, should I open it up a lot more?
With this level of activity (Ivy flow) should I add a super? Last time I looked on 29th Oct the BB was rammed with bees but light on stores so I gave them some 2:1 syrup.
When I looked yesterday the entrance activity was no where near what I am seeing here.
No wasps around these days
What should I do?
K

 

[Paulypaul]

Those are orientation flights.
All is well.

Each day, unless bad weather, bees just above 10 days old will flood out of the hives and practice flying and orientate themselves to the hive's location. Then they'll go back inside.
The volume of bees doing this depends on how much brood hatched 10 days ago and how many young bees have been postponing orientation flights due to recent bad weather.
3 weeks ago, we had 3 or 4 days of bad weather. The first day of fine weather, there were so many bees flooding out of my hives for orientation flights, it took 2.5 hrs for them to finish.
I run all but 1 of my hives on 2 bee space entrances.

This time of year it is wise to keep entrances small, for all but the most powerful colonies.

 

[Erichalfbee]

With this level of activity (Ivy flow) should I add a super?

No. You said they were light on stores

 

[Vanterrier]

Thanks both for the assurance and explanation.

It just looked like loads of them were carrying pollen and were struggling to get in to offload, hence my concern.

Yes there was very little stores which is why I fed them. I suppose I was just trying to balance in my mind the high number of bees and capped brood against the available room for a strong flow, and worried about running out of room for either food or brood, hence my question about the super.
I'll take another look in an hour or so and hopefully calm myself then.
Thanks again
K

 

[Paulypaul]

Thanks both for the assurance and explanation.

It just looked like loads of them were carrying pollen and were struggling to get in to offload, hence my concern.

Yes there was very little stores which is why I fed them. I suppose I was just trying to balance in my mind the high number of bees and capped brood against the available room for a strong flow, and worried about running out of room for either food or brood, hence my question about the super.
I'll take another look in an hour or so and hopefully calm myself then.
Thanks again
K

I've been there.
First time I saw large orientation flights I convinced myself it was robbing, and spent the rest of the day REALLY annoying my bees.

The telltale sign is the dancing in the air, then climbing 20 mts into the sky, then returning.

So long as you give your bees sufficient heavy syrup they'll likely sort themselves out.
To be on the safe side, I intersperse feeds to have breaks in-between.

After a good feed try lifting the back of the hive to see if it's heavy. It likely will be. Which shows they have stores.
If all else fails you can fondent feed through winter.

My guess is, we've got a few weeks before things get reliably below 10c.

 

[blackcloud]

All my entrances are 20-25 mm all year round.
Many feral nests are smaller still.
Easier to defend and have no impact on busy foraging days.

 

[Vanterrier]

After starting with a small swarm then being Q- I have not been used to seeing big numbers inside or outside of the hives. Looks like my BMH Q is doing a good job.
Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the apiary... they spring another surprise on me.
K

 

[Paulypaul]

After starting with a small swarm then being Q- I have not been used to seeing big numbers inside or outside of the hives. Looks like my BMH Q is doing a good job.
Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the apiary... they spring another surprise on me.
K

That was exactly my experience. Caught a small swarm, a few weeks later a mass of bees started flying in front of the hive.
It's actually a really positive sign. Your bees are headed in the right direction.