Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: rayb on February 14, 2009, 02:38:35 PM

Title: Bee cluster hanging onto inner cover
Post by: rayb on February 14, 2009, 02:38:35 PM
Took a look the other day in my 2 hives with temps about 45 deg. and found several hundred bees hanging from the underside of the inner cover. There were still a lot in the top box (3 mediums) and a small bunch in the middle box. I have several pounds of dry sugar on the top frames which they were eating and fairly good stores still in the top box frames.

Question!!

Were they just hanging out while the temps were moderate but not quite good enough to fly ?

And would they have gone back down to "The Cluster" when it got colder.

I'm still not sure what "normal" is.

Thanks, Ray
Title: Re: Bee cluster hanging onto inner cover
Post by: iddee on February 14, 2009, 04:16:53 PM
With the sun heating the lid, they were absorbing the heat. When the sun goes down, they will migrate back down to the cluster.
Title: Re: Bee cluster hanging onto inner cover
Post by: rayb on February 14, 2009, 10:40:06 PM
Thanks, I was hoping for something like that and not that they had eaten their way to the top with no where to go.

Ray