cluster of bees in the rain

[flint1]

I have a hive in my yard, and inspected it on the 14th for swarm cells.  This hive had already swarmed once, about 10 - 14 days ago.  It is a hive with one deep brood box and 4 mediums packed with uncapped honey, so I could not remove any frames.  the 4th medium was placed on the hive 3 days ago, because I had to wait for incoming frames.  It started raining last night and continued through today and is forecast to rain the rest of the week.  My question is this.  Why are they clustered in the rain?  Could it be that there is so much uncapped honey that they cannot properly cluster in the hive? There are also 6 supercedure cells in the deep box.
I also have a slatted bottom board on this hive and I propped  some boards against the hive to try to keep the rain off of the cluster.  Can anyone shed some light on this?  i have not encountered anything like this before.  this is my 4th season with the bees.

[riverbee]

flint 1, it would really help us out if we had an idea of where you are in new jersey......where in new jersey?

why? beekeeping is local so to give you the best possible answer on a question is to get us somewhere close to your environment and your bees environment, instead of guessing on the entire state of new jersey......... .......

so to answer your question to the best that i can, if your hive already swarmed once, my question to you is what did you do to manage the hive from swarming?

if you only have one deep brood box and 4 mediums on top packed with uncapped honey, this is probably a pretty good way to escalate a 'swarm environment'.  the bees are cramped in. the queen has no where to lay, and with swarming a reproductive nature, your hive took off the first time.
why do you have 4 mediums of uncapped honey on top?

where are the bees clustered? out front on the bottom board? if so, no room in the hive with one deep. you may need a second deep. bees need room.
what are your temps, when they get hot, or there is no room in the hive for them.......they will cluster out the front.

6 supercedure cells........are they supercedure cells? describe them or if you can post a pic.

[apisbees]

Bees forage during favorable daylight hours. During Inclement weather, in the evening and night, the bees are back at the hive and if heat is needed in the hive the bees will be in the hive using their bodies to create heat. if the hive is warm enough the bees will cluster out side and keep their bodies out of the way so they do not block the flow of air through the hive.