Lots of "Bearding". Are these bees about to swarm?

Some bees are more prone to swarming than others and you may have a swarmy lot. Then again they may be bearding to cool the hive. I agree with Kirsten that you need to be inspecting the brood box. However you need strategies for what you may find there.

Here’s what I did.

Several of my colonies started bearding a few weeks ago so I figured I would do an inspection. I intended to split one colony and make a combined split from another two. My strategies were to check the levels of hive beetles, reduce bee populations and make some space for the colonies to expand.

That’s what I did. I’ve written about it on another thread so I will attempt to edit in a link. Flow Hive Inspection. Eumundi Australia I now have a couple of queenless colonies. They may be raising queens of their own but I’m buying some queens next week. I’m looking to improving the genetics a little. Some of my colonies are a little too feisty for my liking.