What's going on here?

[peterbees]

Picture taken by one of our beekeepers in North Wales yesterday.
Any idea what's going on?

 

[Ian123]

Any info…..Are they treating/feeding, looks rather like a small swarm possibly gaining entry.

 

[madasafish]

Swarm?
Are you treating? They may not like the smell..too strong?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

been seeing something similar here this year - I've put it down to the phenomenal ivy flow we're experiencing

 

[JamezF]

been seeing something similar here this year - I've put it down to the phenomenal ivy flow we're experiencing

Perhaps the temperature is also a contributory factor? It's still around 16 or 17°C here during the day. Even late afternoon yesterday I was quite comfortable wearing a t-shirt and shorts under my Oz Armour bee suit.

James

 

[peterbees]

Picture taken by one of our beekeepers in North Wales yesterday.
Any idea what's going on?

The enquirer has said that he has finished treating, and he's also said he'd reduced the hive entrances right down to deter wasps.
He has now increased the entrances. We'll see if that helps. Bees here are very busy on the ivy. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Ian123]

The enquirer has said that he has finished treating, and he's also said he'd reduced the hive entrances right down to deter wasps.
He has now increased the entrances. We'll see if that helps. Bees here are very busy on the ivy. Thanks for the comments.

That’s not caused by a reduced entrance! I’ve big colonies that run on fixed entrances all season and they don’t do that.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Swarm?
Late supersedure mating frenzy?
Quite a few bees are showing nasanov glands.

 

[richardh]

So.. here's the story.

Some weeks back, a huge numbers of bees approaching one very strong colony was plausibly interpreted as possible robbing, in part on the strength of the leg posture in flight of the incoming bees. Subsequently, a comparative "shut-in" study, benchmarked against a hive in a nearby apiary, led me to conclude it was nothing of the sort, rather a case of very strong colony making the most of the unusually mild conditions / abundant food. However, by the time I reached that conclusion, I'd already reduced all entrances and, subsequently, just a few days ago, (experimentally) added plasticised string mesh (see picture) as mouseguard to all colonies.

Both actions were mistakes. The latter, particularly misguided, caused a lot of pollen shedding outside hive entrances. Reversing both precautions has very rapidly resolved the issue.

Lesson: observe carefully, think logically, trust the bees.

 

[pargyle]

So.. here's the story.

Some weeks back, a huge numbers of bees approaching one very strong colony was plausibly interpreted as possible robbing, in part on the strength of the leg posture in flight of the incoming bees. Subsequently, a comparative "shut-in" study, benchmarked against a hive in a nearby apiary, led me to conclude it was nothing of the sort, rather a case of very strong colony making the most of the unusually mild conditions / abundant food. However, by the time I reached that conclusion, I'd already reduced all entrances and, subsequently, just a few days ago, (experimentally) added plasticised string mesh (see picture) as mouseguard to all colonies.

Both actions were mistakes. The latter, particularly misguided, caused a lot of pollen shedding outside hive entrances. Reversing both precautions has very rapidly resolved the issue.

Lesson: observe carefully, think logically, trust the bees.

Welll ... there's enough mistakes in that confessional to keep you in Hail Marys for a month at least.

Looks very much like you've learned a few lessons so I'm not going to add unduly to your angst. It is sometimes difficult to tell what's going on ... bees, apparently, do what appears to be the same thing, visually, for a variety of reasons and it's not always clear what is going on - even experienced beekeepers can be fooled into taking action .,....

But ... I've learned over the years I've been beekeeping (and I am by no way the longest served or most experienced beekeeper on here) that the best thing to do, if you don't know for certain what is going on ,,, is do NOTHING ,,,

Most of the time the bees will sort out themselves and normal service will resume. On those occasions when whatever you have observed continues it will be easier to determine what is going on after the initial panic has subsided and you have time for rational thinking.

In the meantime ... welcome to this wonderful forum where you can ask for and receive loads of advice, good, bad and indifferent- it will give you food for thought, toughen yourvirtual skin and occasionally give you some real help and confidence that you are doing something right .. even when your bees think differently !

 

[Kaz]

I had something similar this week with my garden bees, 4 out of 6 colonies, the boxes were covered in bees and I thought they might be swarming. On investigation it was congestion at the entrance, it was warm, the ivy is in full flow and they were flying like a summers day. I temporarily popped the entrance blocks out, problem solved. Never seen it before at this time of year