Bees Hanging Out On Front Of Beehive During The Day

[Jen]

I know all about bearding, I don't think this is daytime bearding. I went thru this hive 2 days ago, everything is fine, plenty of room for the bees to move around, plenty of flow thru the bottom up to the top of the hive? This hive is not over loaded with bees because it has swarmed once this year. The temps are around 80. About half of them go back in at night. Maybe these bees just like to camp out?

[The15thMember]

Hm, funny.  Are they washboarding?  Are they fanning?  Or are they just hanging around?

[Jen]

No washboarding, no fanning. Just hangin' out.

Hmm, deducing. The no fanning brings up a question tho. The two reasons of fanning that I know of is, cooling the hive, or finding, or spreading the queen pheromone. I'm thinking that there isn't a queen present, no pheromone, or those bees would be inside working, or outside foraging.

[The15thMember]

No washboarding, no fanning. Just hangin' out.

Hmm, deducing. The no fanning brings up a question tho. The two reasons of fanning that I know of is, cooling the hive, or finding, or spreading the queen pheromone. I'm thinking that there isn't a queen present, no pheromone, or those bees would be inside working, or outside foraging.

When you inspected a few days ago, was there brood present?

[Jen]

15th, I inspected 4 days ago, last Weds 17th. Yes, there was brood in it's later stages ready to hatch. There was everything they needed, but no eggs. It's a three stack hive and I was looking intently for the queen, didn't find her. Plenty of good natured bees, and some empty queen cells but not as many as I'm used to seeing when a swarm happens.

I'm thinking supercedure, and maybe none of the queens made it. OR, maybe the new hatched queen is mating now. I have another hive where it took the new queen 8 days to go get mated for cryin' out loud!

But it still doesn't explain why so many bees are still hanging out on the front of the hive.. scratching head. I have a hunch that maybe she went up to get mated and didn't return for some reason, and the bees are waiting for her?? I dunno.

I'm going in again tomorrow, gotta find out what's going on in there. I'll get back with ya.

[Bakersdozen]

Hmm, deducing. The no fanning brings up a question tho. The two reasons of fanning that I know of is, cooling the hive, or finding, or spreading the queen pheromone. I'm thinking that there isn't a queen present, no pheromone, or those bees would be inside working, or outside foraging.

Brood presence could also cause fanning. 
I think you need to inspect for queen presence.  A queenless hive  without brood will lose all urges to forage.  I've seen that plenty of times.

[neillsayers]

Jen,
 You could try giving them a frame of eggs and see if they start to raise a queen. 

[Zweefer]

That is what I would do - frame of eggs see what happens.

[Bakersdozen]

Jen, I have a hive doing the exact same thing.  I noticed a large number of bees hanging out on the sides and landing board all times of the day, even when temperatures were not that hot.  I checked today for signs of a queen and there she was, a real beauty with a big red dot.  Lots of brood and eggs.  They were filling the 2 honey supers but I put another super on with drawn comb.  These pictures are after I put the 3rd super on.  It seemed to reduce the number of bees hanging out on the front and sides.




I'm not sure what they are doing out there. 

[Jen]

Baker, I have no idea either. I checked two weeks ago, same as you, nice queen, every thing seems fine... I'm checking again this weekend.

[Bakersdozen]

I am going to lift the tomorrow.  One of my colonies has an inner cover that doesn't have a notch in it.  i thought this might be the colony.  I don't think it makes a difference, but this is a split from another colony. This picture is tonight right before it started raining.

They were actually washboarding a little bit tonight.

[Jen]

I went thru the hive yesterday, 3 stack, with bees up the front relaxing with a toddy. Everything is fine with this hive! Brood, larva, eggs, plenty of food, plenty of room for queen to lay... I put the hive back together and an hour later the bees were back up the front again 

[Jen]

 Caption "My bees have been hanging out on the outside of the hive lately.
Ya'll think it's time to add another deep, or should I wait until
after the goldenrod flow?"

[Bakersdozen]

While adding supers yesterday I found my only 10 frame screened inner cover.  I added that + a 4th super to the colony I have been referring to in previous posts. The number bees hanging out on the front dropped immediately.  All my supers with drawn comb are on hives now with two weeks +/- left in the nectar flow.

I took this picture late in the evening last night after adding the screen inner cover.