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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #12707  by gwt_uk
 26 May 2022, 12:57
Hello all,

I was over at my apiary the other evening and came across a large mass of bees on the front of one colony - At the top on the super. See pic
https://ibb.co/5WB5gpH


I split this colony by 3 weeks ago and put the old queen in a Nuc. I inspected the colony in the pic on Saturday and all was well. Plenty bees very calm and saw a new queen and marked her.

I scooped the bees onto the crown board and they a slowly walked into the supers but were doing a lot of fanning. I also put a handful on the landing board and they walked in ok.

I went back the next day and found the new marked queen. Initial reactions have been that the queen went on mating flight and when she came back landed in the super. The bees that followed decided to stay. I have a nagging doubt however that it may have been a swarm! The bees looked exactly like the Buckfast bees from the colony.

Any thoughts?
 #12708  by NigelP
 26 May 2022, 17:14
It's called bearding and can happen for a number if reasons. Usually it means there is insufficient ventilation inside the hive and the bees go outside to allow hive to cool down. Often occurs when you have large number of bees present....add a third super if they need the extra parking room. There are other reasons but usually nothing to worry about. If it was a swarm they wouldn't usually be sat outside their own hive but with a new mated laying queen most unlikely to be a swarm.
Are you on solid or open mesh floors?
 #12709  by gwt_uk
 26 May 2022, 17:19
Thanks. It’s an OMF. I have removed the entrance reducer. Never seen bearding like this before - I thought it usually occurred around the hive entrance? The hive is in quite a sunny, south facing location and it was quite muggy the night I found them.
 #12711  by AdamD
 27 May 2022, 09:28
I too would expect to see bearding from the entrance rather than higher up, although we never say never with bees!
I have seen a couple of mating swarms and they have returned to the hive entrance after a while - they have never clustered as yours have.
Could there be a the possibility of two queens with a virgin above the queen excluder in addition to the marked queen - which I assume is not mated yet?
OR has another colony swarmed onto the front of this hive?
If the saying is true that one frame of brood gives three frames of bees, you might need to give 'parking room' with another super as Nigel suggests.
 #12713  by gwt_uk
 27 May 2022, 10:03
AdamD wrote:
27 May 2022, 09:28
I too would expect to see bearding from the entrance rather than higher up, although we never say never with bees!
I have seen a couple of mating swarms and they have returned to the hive entrance after a while - they have never clustered as yours have.
Could there be a the possibility of two queens with a virgin above the queen excluder in addition to the marked queen - which I assume is not mated yet?
OR has another colony swarmed onto the front of this hive?
If the saying is true that one frame of brood gives three frames of bees, you might need to give 'parking room' with another super as Nigel suggests.
Yes my suspicion now is that there are in fact two queens. One in the BB and the other in the supers above the QE. I was going to leave them for a week but may check this weekend. The marked queen wasn’t laying on last inspection. If there are two queens - what would you suggest? Try a split or Remove the QE and let them fight it out?
 #12724  by Steve 1972
 27 May 2022, 21:27
Remove the prematurly marked virgin and shake the lot out of the brood box bellow..it would be nice if you could find the original Queen though.