bees at the entrance

[drewgrim]

in the evenings i have noticed my one hive always has lots of extra bees at the hive entrance. being the rookie that i am it looks like they may want to swarm. this hive has two deeps and a medium that is about 6 frames full. i just checked all the frames on friday and saw no swarm cells at all. are they just hanging out on the porch? or is there more to it? these photos were taken at about 8:30
see if these links work
http://picasaweb.google.com/lacey.grim/ ... 6761148130

http://picasaweb.google.com/lacey.grim/ ... 9581278930

[Wally]

That's not hanging out. Wait until August, when they look like this.


http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff61 ... lonies.jpg

[drewgrim]

oh man! are they going to swarm or is that ok?

[Wally]

It's normal. Maybe even a little less than normal.

[p51d]

if it make you feel better that is what two of my hives look like. Boy, if mine looked like Wally's I would be freaking....

[Wally]

Those aren't mine, but mine have looked like that and more when I was producing honey.

[drewgrim]

why do they do that? just not enough room in there?

[Wally]

Temperature control

[drewgrim]

my hive that had all those bees on the porch, now has about a 6 or 7 swarm cells on about 3 or 4 different frames. what should i do? the queen is there and laying good. everything else in the hive seems good. lots of honey and such. what happens if i dont do anything with the swarm cells?

[Wally]

You should take the queen and 3 to 5 frames of brood and make a split. If you don't, I will be coming back to your house with the ladder.

PS. I can lend you a nuc box if needed.