Hi one of my hives hS two brood boxes and seems pretty full. Why are bees clustered around the opening which is about 2 inches and wiggling their bums up and down - even at night?
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Hiya Paul & welcome to the forum 
Hanging out on the front stoop in hot weather is a typical busy colony thing, but bums a-wiggling could mean swarm preparation. Or if I’m not picturing what you call wiggling quite right, they could just be washboarding - another normal pastime for bigger colonies. Check in the forum search area, or google the terms washboarding and Nasonov fanning, and take a look at videos for comparison.
When was your last inspection, and did you notice any queen cells?
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Bees hanging about out side the hive entrance is a common thing, especially in warmer climates. The bees move out of the hive to help in reducing the inside temperature around the cluster. It can also be a sign that the colony is about to swarm and so a big build up of bee numbers is needed.
A hive brood inspection would be a good move to check for any queen cells in use and if you find them then I would do a split of the hive so that you don’t loose 1/2 of the bees.
If the build up at the entrance is only 2" high it still needs investigation so that you can make the next move in managing the hive.
welcome to the forum Paul, lots of reading here and heaps of good folks happy to help with excellent advice, but remember we are world wide and so climates come into our advice. Local advice can be a good source of information as well
Cheers
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I am assumig it is warm at night where you are? In summertime bees congregate outside of many of my hives- once there was a big summer thunderstorm and at 2am I saw a lot of bees outside the hive- in the wind and rain. Basically when the population in the hive is very large- bees can go in an out as they regulate the internal temperature and humidity levels. On its own it is nothing to worry about. You do need ot take care with swarm prevention managment- but seeing bees outside a hive certianly doesn’t guarantee it has anything to do with swarming.
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It’s worth remembering that bees can’t access water during the night. Water being the key ingredient the bees use to air condition their hives.
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Hello All,
I notice something similar with one of my hives… I’m new to the forum and not sure how I could add a picture of the hive here.
Need a little help navigating the forum
Hi Usha, in the posting frame there are several icons across the top. The one with the arrow pointing up is for uploading. Click that and browse your computer for the photo.
Cheers
Thank you so much ClintSC9.
I just figured it out. Are there any restrictions on the uploads
Best,
No idea Usha, but I guess you’ll be told if you upload too much.
Cheers
Hi Usha, welcome to the forum. If your issue is “Bees clustered around opening even at night”. It’s worth bearing in mind that during warm nights, bees can’t gather water, which they use in the air conditioning of their hive. Without water they have to do the best they can in order to air condition their hive, which includes some bees clustering around the opening, or even bearding at night.
Thank you Jeff. In India it is winter now and in Hyderabad it about 26-27C during nights.
I somehow concluded that this is a kind of bearding ( I will upload the pics though), because of the recent history of moving the hives from front to back yard of my house. I can’t forgive myself for the swarm that it resulted in. Not only that the neighbors had their fluorescent lights on and all the swarm from the 3 hives flocked around-- hovering and I lost quite a few of my workers from all 3.
So the colonies were reduced by a third almost… The surroundings are not known for pollen and nectar sources, so I guess this also lead to a kind of dearth. When I observed the hives, the pollen was almost NIL though there were nectar cells
Queen are alive and hence I guess I need to wait and watch. I have been committing all kinds of beginners’ mistakes. I have Qs on “no brood”, “frames not being occupied” etc etc.
Thanks again!
Best,
I noticed this with one of them at around 8:30 pm start of this week.
BTW, in the same hive I noticed queen cells on one of the frames. The queen cells are not very big yet.
You’re welcome Usha. Don’t be hard on yourself, making mistakes is par for the course & it’s the best way we learn. I think that 26-27C is still fairly warm for night temps. I’ve seen bees collecting water on cool days, which kind of surprised me.
I doubt if your colony is preparing to swarm, especially during a nectar/pollen dearth. Do those queen cells contain grubs or eggs?
If your colonies are low on resources, you might like to consider feeding them.
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Good Morning Jeff,
I noticed that one of the queen cells has some food inside , so it is not open.
However, I did not find either capped or uncapped brood in first 4 frames.
I have a 8 + 1 feeder in each of them. On the next 3 frames, I notice clumping.
I do feed them every week with Sugar syrup in 1:1 – that is about 300 ml in each of the hives.
I was told to maintain the feeding even when the pollen and nectar is being collected, so as to keep up the life cycle. However, I don’t supply a “pollen supplement/substitute”, I fed them with their own “pollne” a couple of times.
I also notice that there are frames that are not used, there is a comb under the feeder – In the remaining hives.
I will post those pics in relevant topics.
Thanks again,
Hi Usha, seeing as you are, as you say “it is winter now”, I’d probably break the queen cell down, however in doing so I’d try to donate a frame with eggs & young larvae if p0ssible. That way the colony can make a new queen with what you know to be fertile eggs. I’m thinking that with a mild winter, there may be drones around to mate with virgin queens.
I’m not sure what you mean by “clumping”. Do you mean Bees clumping? If so, gently shake them off into the hive so you can see what is under them.
Frames not being used is a result of a weaker population. Bees will only occupy the frames that the population needs to. They will not spread themselves thin over the frames. Temperature changes will affect how many frames they occupy. In cold weather they’ll occupy less frames than in hot weather.
Thank you Jeff,
*“however in doing so I’d try to donate a frame with eggs & young larvae if p0ssible”.
I have 3 hives and all 3 of them I did not notice brood. Which actually worried me. This I attributed to “NIL” pollen. Apart from that, since in all 3 hives there were frames not being used, I did "merge"1 or 2 frames to shift to a “relatively weaker” hive. Since I did not notice brood in all 3 of them, I did not choose to tamper with the queen cell, assuming that the hive needs a new queen.
In the hive above, removed the old wax from one of the frames and left the “foundation-less” frame inside-- to check if the bees are active enough to build a comb.
In a second hive , I notice that bees are making a comb under the feeder frame, while a couple of frames are not populated.
“clumping” – yes Jeff, the bees on the frames are on top of another like a bunch-- I assume that it is for the nectar. I will shake them off and then check what is under them.
As of now , the bees seem to get pollen. Queens are alive. I’m waiting.
Hi Usha, So the 3 hives have a queen? There’s no brood in any hive, frames not being occupied. It sounds like the colonies all need a boost in population, especially young bees.
What I would suggest is to acquire 3 full frames of brood in all stages (if available), one for each colony. You could do that again in about 10 days time.
Also consider feeding pollen substitute and sugar/water if necessary. What you want to be seeing is a honey arc at least above the brood.
Your photos came in while I was typing. It looks like your bees are bringing in fresh honey. Don’t worry about the comb under the feeder, your bees probably built that while they were strong. That is normal bee behavior.
PS @Usha_Kota I think the software, or cloud or whatever will let you know when you have reached your limit of uploads. The more photos, the better.
cheers
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That’s quite encouraging Jeff, Thank you
I will update here after another week.
I have questions on whether the frames need any change in CF-sheets,
Best,
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