Hive pic with upper entrance and question

[vemergy]

It is in the upper 80s in mid-Ohio this weekend and I put in a ventilation inner cover with upper entrance today.
All bees are clustering at the upper entrance and bearding at the lower entrance.

I did not expect them to cluster at the top -- is that a sign that they are trying to plug-in the hole?

[rwlaw]

More or less, they want to plug it because it's a opening, they don't like new things like that initially. Your idea is fine but I wouldn't do the ring thing, they're going to start filling it with burr comb and your going to have a mess. A couple of Popsicle sticks under the inner cover is more then enough for the eighties,if at all. Remember they have to keep the brood nest in the nineties.
You only have a deep and a medium? You might be overcrowded and there's been plenty of September swarm reports, you don't need that headache.

[Michael Bush]

They are bearding at both entrances.  The difference in how the look is because of the landing board and the width of the entrance.

[derekm]

interesting!  we have had days over 32C  (88F) this summer  and have only had a hundred or so    bees  on the outside.  Given that our hives are extremely insulated, with only bottom entrances it makes one think that this behaviour is not strictly external temperature related.

[biggraham610]

Humidity, numbers, and temp all play a role in my opinion. I think Humidity is a large part of the equation. G

[KeyLargoBees]

its the solid Bottom boards and insulated sides. Air temp isnt an indication of temp in an enclosed space when the space is receiving sunlight (closed cars and pets/children spring to mind) .....I have screened boards and its been upper 80 to low 90s in the Keys all year....with nary a beard. I put the sticky board on for 24 hrs to get an idea of pests and it was like something out of a ZZ top video by late afternoon.....removed the board at 24 hrs and the beard disappeared like magic.

[vemergy]

Sad to announce that this same colony swarmed yesterday.
Being a fairly new beekeeper, it was first in my life to witness a cloud of bees over the house, so it was amazing to witness such an event, but am devastated that I did not do anything to prevent the over-crowding.
What adds insult to injury is that the swarm landed on a tree close to the apiary, and I boxed it successfully without a single bee remaining on the branch (though there were a few hovering even after I sprayed the branch with honey bee robber liquid - btw, is it dangerous to inhale some of the vapors if the slight wind blows your way?), and when I opened the box a few hours later, they were all gone - every single one of them.  Bummer.

[OldMech]

Sad to announce that this same colony swarmed yesterday.
Being a fairly new beekeeper, it was first in my life to witness a cloud of bees over the house, so it was amazing to witness such an event, but am devastated that I did not do anything to prevent the over-crowding.
What adds insult to injury is that the swarm landed on a tree close to the apiary, and I boxed it successfully without a single bee remaining on the branch (though there were a few hovering even after I sprayed the branch with honey bee robber liquid - btw, is it dangerous to inhale some of the vapors if the slight wind blows your way?), and when I opened the box a few hours later, they were all gone - every single one of them.  Bummer.

   First.. stop feeling so bad.
   With everything thats going against those bees in this day and age, from Trachial and Varoa mites, to all of the diseases, chalk brood, sac brood, afb, efb, and CCD... whatever causes that...  Insecticides, pesticeds, herbicides and the stuff that is smeared into the hives to control the mites, and then all of those things combining in the wax to cause further problems...
   Well buddy, if your hive swarmed it was because you did something right. So stop kicking yourself.
   Many times your going ot have a swarm no matter how hard you work to avoid it.

   I run small upper entrances on my hives year round, in addition to the lower entrance, and that looked pretty normal for a decent hive.

   Those bees had scouts out, and apparently they found a location they liked better than your box and headed out for greener pastures.

[GSF]

Swarmed? That's what healthy hives do.

About the same happened to me last year. I had a swarm, retrieved it, watched the box for 10-15 minutes. I'm thinking they ain't going nowhere. So I went in the house to get me a cup of coffee and come back to enjoy my bounty. When I got back a few minutes later there wasn't a bee in the box, nor in the sky, nor in a tree. I saw this hive swarm, the whole episode didn't last long at all.

From then on I started doing two things. I started marking all my laying queens and when I catch a swarm I put a queen excluder under the bottom super for a day or so. If I saw the queen and she was marked I'll leave it on longer. I try to add a frame of drawn comb as well. Some times it's fresh out of a hive.