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Author Topic: Iv never seen this before HELP!  (Read 3874 times)

Offline achunter

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Iv never seen this before HELP!
« on: June 21, 2009, 10:05:31 am »
I have absolutely no idea what they are doing, I'm in central PA its 900 in the morning, and its cloudy. What do you think?

http://yfrog.com/0qdsc01721yj

http://yfrog.com/e3dsc01722fj

http://yfrog.com/e3dsc01723bj

Offline bailey

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2009, 10:09:54 am »
give them another brood box, they are bearding and they may be crowded.
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Offline achunter

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2009, 10:12:16 am »
does the brrod camber have to be drawn?

Offline G3farms

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2009, 10:15:56 am »
have you looked inside to see haow many frames of comb they have pulled? this is how they start a beard (clusters of bees on the front of the hive). If all or 80% of the frames are drawn out you need to add a super.

It could just be hot and humid in the early morning and they are trying to cool off also.

G3
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Offline achunter

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2009, 10:24:31 am »
well I recently made a 4 frame nuc from this hive and it currently has 4 mediums and 1 deep brood chamber so its already a large hive and the queen was laying up in the honey supers so i assumed i was giving her to much room to roam so i just left the 5 supers that were there alone hoping they would push her down out of the honey supers so you think i should still add an undrawn brood chamber?

Offline TwT

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2009, 10:47:24 am »
it is probably just the heat and high humidity, every one of my hive's probably will come out today, haven't seen then bearding yet but I know its hot, you might want to prop up the top cover of you hive to help ventilate.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2009, 11:31:51 am by TwT »
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Offline JP

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2009, 11:15:30 am »
Technically, the ones on the front right of the hive are "festooning" or chain forming. They do this on the inside of the hive when building new comb, especially on foundationless frames.

On the exterior, I see them doing this at night or early morning as a way to hang on to each other to keep everyone present on the hive, its very cool to see this. My wife especially loves the "look" of festooning bees.

With the temps up everywhere, I would agree with everyone above to check to see if the set up has enough room and ventilate if need be or add another super.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LWO8SOzzAOCfEokE3RljIw?feat=directlink

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http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/BoQBVOkC2R6cECwgSPgKmQ?feat=directlink


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Offline Cheryl

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2009, 11:25:17 am »
achunter, those are some really pretty bees! Nice photos of festooning, also!!
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Offline achunter

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #8 on: June 21, 2009, 11:37:56 am »
yeah i thought they were crowded but as I added a honey super the queen would just go up and lay in it and they wouldnt put honey in it so by adding a deep super do you think it will discourage her from laying up there, and i only have deeps with foundation that inst drawn out, wouldn't this hurt honey production?

Offline JP

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #9 on: June 21, 2009, 11:50:27 am »
Some queens are better baby makers than others and require more area for her broodnest. On these hives you may need to stack more than normally.

If you have any supers that have capped honey, or frames with capped honey that you could spare, you could pull those and give them back empty frames or a new box to build in. This will free up space and keep them from going honeybound.


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Online Michael Bush

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #10 on: June 21, 2009, 01:35:53 pm »
Its nothing at all.  If they get to bearding in huge clumps of four or five pounds of bees, then you can worry about room and ventilation.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#bearding
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Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2009, 01:10:57 am »
Festooning, as in the photos, is more an escape from heat than crowding.  The hive needs some type of upper vent/entrance.
The festooning bees are making room so that there is more room between bees, it is one way of cooling the hive, the bees on the bottom board that are busy fanning are another way of cooling the hive.  Super might be necessary but my experience says they are more in need of air conditioning. 
When the hive gets crowded and hot inside then you'll see bearding which looks like a swarm hanging on the outside of the hive.  Then they need room and venting and probably a split as they may have decided to swarm so a check for queen cells is always warranted when genuine bearding is present.
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Offline iddee

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2009, 09:41:11 am »
Read MB's post. It is nothing.....

If it's anything, it's a mountain....Manufactured from a mole hill.
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Offline Joelel

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2009, 01:17:06 pm »
well I recently made a 4 frame nuc from this hive and it currently has 4 mediums and 1 deep brood chamber so its already a large hive and the queen was laying up in the honey supers so i assumed i was giving her to much room to roam so i just left the 5 supers that were there alone hoping they would push her down out of the honey supers so you think i should still add an undrawn brood chamber?

Hi,We use queen excluders,that keeps the queen in the body (brood chamber). We use two lg.body boxes. Add the supers and always keep at lest 3 empty frames in the super. Always give bees alot of room and working space.
Acts2:37: Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
40: And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation

Offline honeytaker

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Re: Iv never seen this before HELP!
« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2009, 12:51:52 am »
ALL OF MY HIVES ARE DOING THE SAME THING ITS BEEN ALMOST 90 DEGREES HERE FOR A FEW DAYS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT I EVEN MIST THEM WITH WATER EVERY NOW AND THEN THEY SEEM TO LIKE IT

 

anything