Bearding stopped on one of my hives - Swarmed?

GSF · September 08, 2014, 09:39:20 PM

In one location in my yard, I have 10 hives side by side, 5 on each stand. Usually 4 or 5 of these will beard pretty good in the afternoon. One of them usually had 3 to 4 double handfuls bearding. Now it has maybe a single handful. The others are still bearding like before, same size and everything. Would that suggest swarming? I noticed it about 2 days after I had seen the last beard.

I don't see enough of a flow to support a swarm. I had a couple of them do the same thing earlier this year. I'm sure those swarmed.

iddee · September 08, 2014, 10:49:41 PM

1..Low flow and consumption may have given them more room.

2..Queen may have quit laying or vanished. I would check for queenrite.

3..I have heard of swarms in Michigan in the last week, so in Alabama it may well have happened.

BeeMaster2 · September 08, 2014, 11:24:49 PM

Bees do not always follow the rules. I collected 2 swarms last January. We do not have a good flow on right now but I collected a large swarm last week.
Jim

sc-bee · September 09, 2014, 12:02:07 PM

I hear this talked about a lot. Yes bearding could mean congestion but also heat or humidity..... right? Why do folks automatically see bearding or less bearding than before and think swarming? It is a question guys so hold the guns..... :tumbleweed:

Kathyp · September 09, 2014, 03:58:37 PM

the best answer is in the hive.

sc-bee · September 09, 2014, 04:03:23 PM

Quote from: kathyp on September 09, 2014, 03:58:37 PM
the best answer is in the hive.

You know that's right.... my thoughts exactly :)

BeeMaster2 · September 10, 2014, 01:03:29 PM

Light bearding is a regular thing on my large hives. On my observation hive, when the beard outside the hive gets bigger than a softball they end up swarming. This has happened with 4 empty frames in the top of the hive. Spring of 2013, I fed a small, tennis ball sized, hive a special protein/sugar water mixture that a friend had developed for a big company and within couple of months they filled the bottom 2 deep frames with bees and a Nerf football sized beard outside the hive and then swarmed even though the top 6 medium frames were empty. This spring this hive built a beard so large outside the hive that when they swarmed, you could not tell it by looking in the hive and they had 4 empty frames in the top of the hive. Right now they have filled everything except the top 2 foundationless frames and have no bearding.
Jim

GSF · September 10, 2014, 10:02:31 PM

Each one of the hives that the beard disappeared from has at least 8 empty medium frames. If that's the case my hives will never build up enough to make any amount of honey, unless I go in them every two weeks. I'm waiting till next week when the high temps are only in the upper 80's. Swarming don't make sense right now. The GR has green buds with a strong yellow tint in this area. Nothing else is blooming except for the cotton fields. That may be plenty enough.

GSF · September 10, 2014, 10:26:45 PM

Hey Jim,

Would you call the beard in your picture a concern as far as swarming goes?

BeeMaster2 · September 11, 2014, 12:24:29 AM

Quote from: GSF on September 10, 2014, 10:26:45 PM
Hey Jim,

Would you call the beard in your picture a concern as far as swarming goes?

Gary,
No, this is the result of a full inspection on a hot day. When the observation hive is bearding that results in a swarm, it is a long mass hanging together. In this picture, they are not bearding. They are all over the hive. They were also wash boarding. Moving back and force looking like they are cleaning the hive with their tongue.
Jim