Why are my bees bearding in early am?

[Busybee58]

As if this whole beekeeper process isn't confusing enough, now my bees in my long Lang
have been bearding in the early morning hours.
Why??? It's cooler temps 50's low 60's than the mid to upper 80's we're getting right now.
My bee inspector came out on Good Friday and said have good strong hives, each hive (then) had 2 empty frames. Lots of drones. She said I might want to split each hive!
I just got the nucs a month ago.
Every week is more confusing than the last. Ending with a big sigh....🙄

[The15thMember]

Wow, that's great that they have built up so quickly!  I know the learning curve is steep your first year, but hang in there.  It will start to make more sense; well, until it doesn't again.    The bees will always keep you guessing!    But once you have the basics down, it won't seem so overwhelming.  Keep the questions coming, and we'll help you out as best we can. 

My guess as to the bearding is that it's in the early morning when the hive is fullest.  The foragers come home every night, and so the hive is very crowded, and in the mornings when it has started to warm up, they go out on the porch, so to speak, to help keep the hive cool.  Once it warms up, they fly out and work in the field, and so the congestion is alleviated during the warm hours of the day.  If that's the case, I'd agree with the bee inspector that they will either need more room or may need to be split soon, since congestion is one of the triggers for swarming. 

[BeeMaster2]

If they don?t go in at night and are out side in the morning then they are probably going to swarm. I have seen this over and over again happen to my observation hive. Recommend that you do a split and move the old queen to a new location.
Jim Altmiller

[mark]

recently helped someone with an apimae hive with a bunch of bees hanging out under the hive for about a week.  turns out a queen came back from mating flight and decided to hold up under there.   a possibility maybe?

[The15thMember]

recently helped someone with an apimae hive with a bunch of bees hanging out under the hive for about a week.  turns out a queen came back from mating flight and decided to hold up under there.   a possibility maybe?

If the bearding isn't happening for part of the day, then I'd doubt this to be the case.  If there was a cluster around a queen, they wouldn't disappear for the afternoon and reappear in the morning. 

[Bob Wilson]

It just seems to me that these bees ought to be out working the flowers in the early afternoon.

[Ben Framed]

It just seems to me that these bees ought to be out working the flowers in the early afternoon.

I agree Bob, especially this time of year in my area....

[BeeMaster2]

Bob,
At a bee college that I went to several years ago, an instructor studied this and came to the conclusion that the bees are holding back a reserve of field bees in case  there is some major disaster that kills the working field bees.
They may have more field bees than they have comb space to fill with nectar so the nurse bees are not asking the bearding field bees to get anything.
I would not bee surprised if they ended up swarming within a week. See my post above.
Na

[Bob Wilson]

I also would not be surprised. I am still working on priming the pump for honey production, yet preventing swarming. I don't have it down yet.

[Michael Bush]

If it's cool out and they are bearding they are probably out of room.