Out all day. Got home around 2:30 this afternoon, let the dog out and went to check the bees. What the heck is going on? Bees are flying all over the front of the hive, in and out, up and down, back and forth. Hundreds of them.
I know about bearding, when they collect on the outside of the hive as a way to cool down, but this wasn't bearding. They weren't swarming because they weren't going anywhere, just flying in front of the hive. Were they being robbed? Oh no....What do we do about that?
Quick....to the books! Thank goodness for the books. Looked up robbing and got this "...normal activity at the hive's entrance can look unusually busy. This is when young worker bees take their orientation flights. Facing the hive, they lover up and down, and back and forth. They're orienting themselves to the location of the hive. You may see hundres of these young bees floating around the front of the hive, but there's nothing aggressive of frantic about theie exploratory behavior." (Blackiston, p. 180)
False alarm. No robbery in progress, just worker orientation!
My go to books so far:
Blackiston, H. 2009. Beekeeping for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Morrison, A. and Vilauib, M. 2013. Homegrown Honey Bees. North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing.
Note: If you are thinking about buying books and you go throught he link for my club, the club makes a little cash- http://www.nnjbees.org/books/
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