Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: JP on May 30, 2005, 11:48:50 am

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: JP on May 30, 2005, 11:48:50 am

yesterday evening, I checked the queen cages to see if queens were released, & they weren't, but candy was almost gone. Of course I had to open the hive bodies to do so & noticed last night a handfull of bees on the underside of the bottom board on both hive bodies. Just now I checked & bees are still on the underside of the bottom boards. Should I do anything to usher these bees back in or just leave them alone. I did add a stick to both hives, as to try & direct them to the hive entrance last night, but it didn't do anything.
Thnx for all replies & suggestions
JP.

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: SherryL on May 30, 2005, 05:39:41 pm

Quote

Of course I had to open the hive bodies to do so & noticed last night a handfull of bees on the underside of the bottom board on both hive bodies. Just now I checked & bees are still on the underside of the bottom boards.

Do you have a picture?  I'm a little confused (very easy for me!) about how you're seeing  bees underneath the bottom board by opening the hive.  Do you hives not sit on a stand?  Is there an opening that is allowing them to go underneath the hive?

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: JP on May 30, 2005, 06:26:09 pm

Sherry,
my boxes are approx. 18" from the ground, & I have screen bottoms on both hives. The boxes are on bench-like stands made of 2x4's with 1x2's on top of the 2x4's, to allow rainwater to escape.

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: JP on May 30, 2005, 06:32:10 pm

also need to mention that the 1x2's are spaced out 2" apart.

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: Jerrymac on May 30, 2005, 06:55:00 pm

Oh screen bottoms. Yeah they were trying to get into the hive from the bottom. And probably gave up. I had bees stay on the bottom for awhile and I guess they finally figured it out. Herd them in if you want to. couldn't hurt.

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: SherryL on May 30, 2005, 07:37:37 pm

Okey Dokey ....  Yeah, like Jerry said, they'll figure it out.  Must be "blonde" bees  :lol:

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: Michael Bush on May 30, 2005, 10:36:11 pm

Are these a package?  I just do direct releases in packages.  I'd let the queens out and see if that doesn't clear things up.  Also, with a package, I would have the tray in the SBB.  If you don't have one, I'd MAKE one and close up the SBB until it gets hot in the summer.  A package needs to be able to heat and humidify the brood area and that's hard for a package with an open SBB.

If they are confused about the smells coming from the SBB it will help with that to close it also.

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: JP on May 31, 2005, 12:33:14 am

Michael,
it's 85 degrees here in Louisiana

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: Michael Bush on May 31, 2005, 10:47:21 am

At night?

Title: bees on underside of bottom board
Post by: bassman1977 on June 02, 2005, 05:12:12 pm

This happened to me when I started my hive.  I left them alone.  Just be careful not to squish any bees when you put the covers back on.  It's almost an impossible thing with that many bees up there.