Hi fairly new here so bee 
gentle 
I have my hive basically fully in the sun all day and have noticed the bees are bearding a fair bit when it’s hot , I have cut the door opening about 6 times bigger than standard supply
I have also remove the tray insert t I help today but will reinsert later when it cools
Should I plant some trees to throw some shade in afternoon or am I being a little precious
Thanks
Clive 
I am in Queensland
Gold Coast
Hi Clive, welcome to the forum, and greetings from Buderim.
I suggest to do everything you can to keep your hive cool, even if it means painting the hive white. A good test is to feel how hot the hive feels during the day in the sun. Reduce your entrance down to no more than 15 sq. cms., and close up any ventilation. Your bees will “air condition” the hive via the entrance only. You’ll see bees air conditioning their hive in the video on Youtube “City of Bees”
Hey Clive,
Jeff offers sound advice as usual.
The boxes we put bees in are a poor substitute for the tree hollows bees often occupy in nature. The cavity in a tree has beautifully thick walls (150mm-250mm or more) providing an R factor insulation off the scale. The entrance is usually quite small allowing the bees to efficiently regulate temperature and humidity.
The 19mm-22mm thick walls of the typical Langstroth hive provides next to no insulation, so the bees must work very hard to do air conditioning.
It’s up to us to help them every way possible. As Jeff said, painting the hive white helps. White reflects heat, darker colours absorbs heat. I recommend shading the hive during the hottest part of the day. Either relocate the hive to use existing shade or erect a shade cloth or other structure. You might still see bearding, but the bees will be much less stressed.
Also, check inside the hive to ensure they are not dealing with another stressor such as small hive beetle or varroa.
I know, I know. Officially varroa isn’t in QLD, but that’s what the Victorians believed about their state a couple of months ago. In reality, Varroa is in QLD building up until someone does a wash and finds them.
Cheers,
Mike
You can incrementally move your hive up to 1 metre per day to a position where it receives afternoon shade. That would certainly help the bees regulate the temperature.
I have a horizontal flow hive with 45mm walls. I watch all the other hives start bearding on hot days, but not in the horizontal hive.
Thanks for all the tips and will be sorting this out asap as we in for a hot summer I believe and want the’ girls ‘to be happy 
Thanks Jeff
I fully understand the air conditioning concept by sealing everything off and reducing the entrance as one would in your own home
After researching a little more on the subject some people suggest getting more air flow
ie : removing the bottom tray and then the plug in the roof cavity and securing some mesh over the whole so the girls don’t go into the roof but this would then create good air flow and keep it cooler
The only problem that I see with this idea is that the bees won’t be able to air condition the hive as the door will be open ?
Thanks
I would paint the roof white, replace the crown board with a hive mat that has a bee space all around it. Then stick with NO added ventilation, regardless of what other information you read.
The bees will circulate air throughout the hive, in at one side of the entrance, and out on the other, as illustrated in that video I mentioned.
PS, I believe it’s a good thing that bees have access to the roof cavity. The roof cavity offers the colony a population “relief valve”. All I suggest to do is open it once a fortnight to monitor the population so that it doesn’t blow out, which can lead to swarming.
I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but make sure your bees have access to water, a vital part of the bees air conditioning. This is possibly why we sometimes see more bearding after dark, than during the day, with no water available after dark.
Ok thanks so much
Really appreciated
Clive
