My bees are preparing to swarm... I think

[LizzieBee]

I did a hive inspection on the 10th. No queen cups or anything. There is SO much honey in the brood area and pollen and there is quite a lot of space taken up with honey rather than brood. Since my bees have not been using the upper entrance to the honey super (which still has not been filled with honey) which is right above the queen excluder, I blocked their main entrance yesterday evening (bottom board). They just crawled up to the upper entrance and everything seemed fine. This morning they were doing the same, some actually landing on the upper entrance landing area rather than going to the main entrance and then crawling up. But now there is a huge beard of bees all over the upper entrance, wrapping around the sides of the honey super. There are clusters of bees randomly gathered on the sides of the boxes. And bees which are part of the beard with pollen on their legs... This has to be swarming. The queen, who has clipped wings, cannot get out of the hive because of the queen excluder which is right below the only open entrance. They don't have any other queen in there, no queen cells or anything. Are they absconding or swarming or what on earth?

Any help appreciated!

Lizzie

[Beeboy01]

By blocking the lower entrance you have confused the field bees and they don't know how to get back into the hive, not swarming, just confused bees. It also sounds like you have some bearding on the outside of the hive to stay cool. Why did you block off the bottom entrance ?
  I would open up the bottom entrance before the bees start building comb on the outside of the hive which will be a real mess.

[LizzieBee]

I blocked it so they would use the upper entrance. And they are using it. I read somewhere that it could be another swarm from another hive... But I'm not sure.

Lizzie

[Acebird]

My advice is still the same.  Remove the QE and pull up a couple of frames from the lower box into the upper box.

[LizzieBee]

What's the explanation for the worker bees with pollen which are part of the beard? Is that a sign for swarming?

Lizzie

[Beeboy01]

The bees on the front of the hive with pollen are field bees that haven't figured out how to use the upper entrance not bees getting ready to swarm. They don't know how to get back into the hive so they are stuck outside with the pollen from their last  flight. As far as I know when bees swarm they do not carry pollen.
  You are risking having the bees making comb on the outside of the hive. If they can not get back into the hive they will set up home and build comb where ever they are which in your case sounds like on the outside of the hive.
  Did you check the hive for queen swarm cells around the brood nest? That is the only way to spot a hive getting ready to swarm. If you think the brood chamber is getting honey bound move two frames of honey out  of the brood box and give the bees some foundation to work on. 
 

[LizzieBee]

Beeboy, I checked for queen cells and there were none. I'll do what you said and switch out some of the frames of honey with ones with foundation.

Lizzie

[LizzieBee]

I guess I'll just sweep the bee beard off with a brush... there are so many on the hive.

Lizzie

[Acebird]

I guess I'll just sweep the bee beard off with a brush... there are so many on the hive.

Lizzie

Why?

[Beeboy01]

Just give them a little smoke to break them up, no need to use a brush. Once the lower entrance is open they will go back in the hive. Are you in the middle of a flow or has things slowed up. If the flow is over or if it is hot there will be a bunch of bees just hanging out on the front of the hive. You might want to think about adding another super if the hive is that crowded, don't know how your hive is set up so don't do it if not needed.
  To keep on top of it check for queen swarm cells every week to ten days. 

[BeeMaster2]

Lizzie,
Your first post sounds like your flow has stopped and the bees are back filling the brood area to stop the queen from laying eggs. If there is a good flow on then they are probably planning on swarming. It is possible that there are swarm cell that you did not see and they are planning on swarming.
Just because your queen is clipped, it does not mean that they cannot swarm. When they realize that your queen cannot fly, they will wait for the queens to hatch and take one of them.
I would not worry about trying to move the bees inside. They are bearding for a reason, probably due to heat or as mentioned, confusion.
If heat is the problem, add insulation under the telescoping cover. I have 2 layers of insulation on almost all of my hives.
Jim

[Bush_84]

Bearding to me either means heat, lack of ventilation, or overcrowding. First thing is open that lower entrance. Blocking it up isn?t doing you much good. Forcing them through the upper entrance won?t make them put honey up there and it may be restricting ventilation through the hive resulting in bearding. The queen excluder could be an issue. I don?t use them much but they can cause issues. They could be doing some early swarm prep. 

Either way you need to open things up. Open the entrance. Make sure they have plenty of space. Open that brood nest!

[LizzieBee]

Acebird,
They were covering the box handles and the smoke wasn't doing much, other then making them wobble around but stay in the same area. It went fine though, I gently swept them into a bucket and they stayed in there as if they were bearding again. I poured them back into the box when I was done, and they spread out into the frames.

Sawdstmakr,
There is still a heavy nectar flow. I'll have to see tomorrow if the bees are bearding again. I had never seen a beard so big on my hive, and the weather wasn't terribly hot. They usually are washboarding on the front, or have a couple of mini beards on the front.

I opened the lower entrance again. They were using both entrances once I finished. I moved two frames (one capped honey, one capped brood) into the super and put two frames of foundation in their place.

Lizzie

[Acebird]

I moved two frames (one capped honey, one capped brood) into the super and put two frames of foundation in their place.
Lizzie

I assume you did not remove the QE?  Not my preference but at least you pulled up a couple of frames.
Sweeping tends to roll bees and agitate them.  What ever reason the bees had for being outside most likely hasn't changed from you putting them inside.
Side note:  The best time to transition a hive from lower entrance to upper entrance is in the spring time when they are building up, not in the middle of a flow.

[Hops Brewster]

A - bearding is normal during the summer to aid in maintaining the hive temperature.  Don't try to interfere with this normal process, let them beard.  If you need to inspect, do it earlier in the day when the bearding is less.

B - if there are no Q cells, they are not preparing to swarm.  However, your description sounds like they are close to being honey bound, which can lead to swarming.  Follow the advice as given and remove the QE, and move a couple frames of honey up to the honey super, and move af couple frames from the super to the brood box.

C - All of my hives have both bottom and top entrances.  Most of them use both, but one hive uses only the bottom entrance.  So what?  They can use whichever entrance they prefer, and I'm not here to argue with them!

[BeeMaster2]

What Hops said x2.
Jim