Yes, all four of my hives are out on the porch. Thank you for all the videos. You know just what we need to know at the right times. Keep up the great work.
Almost a year after you posted this (my 2nd year of beekeeping, 1st year watching your great videos!).... I am grateful for THIS one. My bees went a little buzz-zerk after I applied mite-treatment strips, and the HUGE hive had enough 'bearding' to cover 2 deep boxes... wow! Temps were moderate, they hung out overnight (!) in 55 degrees....sheesh! By the time rain started to fall a day later, they had made their way back in. Since I couldn't interview the bees directly, I presume it was a response to the new aroma in their hive....???
My bees are doing this, but not too extreme. Thought it was strange, but not concerned with swarming. They are bearding and mostly they are doing this in the evening before the sun goes down. I’m a new bee keeper by the way and I’m enjoying the bees.
I think they're washboading because they all have the song: " I'm Just a Love Maching" built into their little bee brains from mother nature and are just acting out their inner groove.
I've never had a problem with my bees chewing on their hive until this summer. You can stand close to the hive and actually hear them chewing and gnawing at the box. I had 2 swarms Monday that took up residence in 2 old Nucs I had set-up for swarms in the spring.
There was a time when I was terrified of bees and if I ever saw a hive full I'd probably have fainted. Since I've been learning about them and watching these videos I find bees fascinating. (I even think they're kind of cute.)
One guy posted his bees this the other day on one of the Facebook groups and I had no idea what they were doing it was so bizarre because I had never seen my bees do it before. Thanks now I have some idea what they were doing.
I haven't experienced this activity, but good to know not to worry if I do. Good video, I'm sure it will put some keepers at ease if they experience it. Our bees work very hard, nice to see them take a break once in a while. Thanks Dave
I also have seen this past few days. It is very hot and humid so I expect it. This is my first year and I love your videos and all your classes. Thank you!
Sometimes your wash boarding are the bees getting salts from the surface of the hive. Other insects need salts to fly. I am sure bees need trace minerals too. It’s one of the reasons why bees like pool water. Bleach is NaClO. Leaving NaCl when broken down. If you spray salt water on the hive top you will see them go for it. I never understood the balling below the hive. Sometimes if you are examining frames the bees will do that there too.
Thanks for the reassurance David. A couple of my larger colonies are doing the exact same thing. One colony swarmed in late June, even though they had plenty of room. They still have extra work to do and space with an upper vent hole to allow airflow but they still hang outside most of the day and beard through the night. Obviously, I have been concerned that they might swarm a second time and I'm keeping a close eye on them.
I think bees do wash boarding, because they’re trying to cool down inside the hive, the reason why I say that is, because my bees used to do wash boarding before I added a bottom screen board and a top ventilated opening, that why they got more airflow, so they stopped doing wash boarding ,and all of my bees now stay inside, none of them stay outside anymore 😁
My bees do this daily, morning, noon and night..never worried. I observe my colonies start doing this as dearth begins, i strongly believe through weeks of observation that this is also a defense mechanism against robbing, a show of force keeps the yellow jackets and others away from all the stores inside that you can smell
Could they be trying to chew the wood of their hive boxes in order to thin the wooden walls of their boxes in order to reduce the amount of heat the boxes can hold? Also, could they be licking the wood of the boxes in the hope that evaporating saliva would help cool the walls of their hive boxes?
Great video David, thanks again. As a video guy I noticed that your recent videos are a little too high in contrast, you may consider turning that down a tad. I recall you were using cannons M 50, there should be plenty of videos on adjusting those settings. Have a super day
Yes, my bees are doing this. They always do it during dearths and on their down time. I used a magnifying glass and looked at them. They are scrapping the wood with their mandibles and also on and off using their tongues. Yes, scientifically we can't say, but I truly believe they are just attempting to sanitize the outside of their hives. This makes sense to me. I cant see another reason why they would do this scrapping their mandibles and licking the wood.
Hey Dave, last week I added my feeders and added a gallon of sugar water to each hive. My 2 strongest hives sucked down the syrup in less than a day. How do I know when enough is enough?
3rd year beekeeper. I've had a lot of washboarding with my hives this year. I'm up in the Northwest burbs of Chicago. Healthy hives...but it's the first time I've witnessed it.
My bees are doing this. I've only seen it once in a few years and last time the entire hive left. I had bad hive beetles that year. This year I'm seeing this again. No swarm clumps or bearding. I thought it was strange that everyone of them is looking down. Last time they left lots of white wax all over the outside of the hive
Does this happen after windy days? Just curious if whatever pollin is available has blown and stuck to the box plus the overheating causes them to go outside and lick up the pollin because there isn't anything else they can do. Just a thought
I have one hive that has made a full super of honey from wet frames I put on for them to clean. I want to harvest it and get the frames cleaned up and stored away. What is the best way to feed honey back to the hive. I don't do open feeding. What is your suggestion? I usually use zip locks for Sugar syrup. Will that work for honey?
I have video my bees in slow motion while washboarding. They are cleaning up microscopic pollen that falls off the thousands bees when they land on the hive or landing board. Too small to see but there nonetheless. Pollen is much like dust to the human eye. Their front legs scrap inward towards their tongue and they lap it up. So there is your answer to the wash boarding. 😊
Valid guess, but then why are they also on the front of the box where there is no pollen. But you make a good point. Go outside at night after dark and hold up a pin point flash light and you'll see all the pollen, dust and other crap we breathe. Terrible!
Could this washboarding behaviour either be, or be the instinctive motion from, their cooling behaviour inside the hive? As well as fanning, they are known to spread water with their tongues. And it seems to me that they are either doing that on the outside or just going through the same motion.
One of my hives does this much more than the other, within the past week or so they've actually started bearding off the bottom board in addition to the washboarding
My bees are doing this but what is strange is that the temperatures have gotten a LOT lower now than they were for the last two months where our temperatures were never below 95 - 110. I know some of it is robbing because they are fighting some and they are going through sugar water like never before but not nectar in the brood area. But I don’t understand why they are doing it now (temps in 80s now, even feeling like fall already), when they didn’t do it when it was really hot. Very few mites, did the check last week….Maybe humidity ?
My bees have started doing this, I thought they were over crowded, I looked inside and they're only just starting to draw the additional 5 frames after installing a nuc, got me wicked nervous, its my first year.
More about radiation, Have you notice that more tree are dead close to intersection?.Young tree is dead right beside old tree that is very green-why?. Enviroment , temperature, water, sun the same then why?--- GPS or 5-G.
Getting a bit late to get your mite numbers down isn't it? Everyone should be running nothing higher than 1.5 / 100 at the highest and preferably 1's or less considering today's date. Have done about 300 washes over the last 6 weeks ... Loads are dropping as the fall pollen starts to make its way into the bees menu. Anything running over a 2 right now probably won't be flying next March. Regarding washboarding. .. It's a fall thing. See it almost every year.
Cleaning, propolizing the facade, i've seen that dance a few weeks ago, makes me happy and i don't know why 😁
Mine are definitely doing this. The front of my hive is literally solid with bees!
Yes, all four of my hives are out on the porch. Thank you for all the videos. You know just what we need to know at the right times. Keep up the great work.
Almost a year after you posted this (my 2nd year of beekeeping, 1st year watching your great videos!).... I am grateful for THIS one. My bees went a little buzz-zerk after I applied mite-treatment strips, and the HUGE hive had enough 'bearding' to cover 2 deep boxes... wow! Temps were moderate, they hung out overnight (!) in 55 degrees....sheesh! By the time rain started to fall a day later, they had made their way back in. Since I couldn't interview the bees directly, I presume it was a response to the new aroma in their hive....???
HaHa! I loved the vid! Scrubbing the deck! No I have never seen this and we’ve had 90s all summer but good to know I’ll be on the look out 👀 Thx Dave!
All three of my hives were bearding last night, but it has been over 100° here in Kansas the last few days! Thanks for the info!
where you at in kansas i live in larned ks
My bees are doing this, but not too extreme. Thought it was strange, but not concerned with swarming. They are bearding and mostly they are doing this in the evening before the sun goes down. I’m a new bee keeper by the way and I’m enjoying the bees.
I think they're washboading because they all have the song: " I'm Just a Love Maching" built into their little bee brains from mother nature and are just acting out their inner groove.
I also believe that the washboarding is also newly hatched bees they haven't become nurse yet so they do the cleaning outside if its too jammed inside
All 36 of my hives do that. But I find it interesting to watch them. Thank you for your great information.
I've never had a problem with my bees chewing on their hive until this summer. You can stand close to the hive and actually hear them chewing and gnawing at the box.
I had 2 swarms Monday that took up residence in 2 old Nucs I had set-up for swarms in the spring.
There was a time when I was terrified of bees and if I ever saw a hive full I'd probably have fainted. Since I've been learning about them and watching these videos I find bees fascinating. (I even think they're kind of cute.)
One guy posted his bees this the other day on one of the Facebook groups and I had no idea what they were doing it was so bizarre because I had never seen my bees do it before. Thanks now I have some idea what they were doing.
I haven't experienced this activity, but good to know not to worry if I do. Good video,
I'm sure it will put some keepers at ease if they experience it. Our bees work very hard,
nice to see them take a break once in a while. Thanks Dave
These dog days of summer have my girls doing the same. I love sitting and watching them.
Evaporative cooling... They are wetting the surface which will cool when the moisture evaporates.
I also have seen this past few days. It is very hot and humid so I expect it. This is my first year and I love your videos and all your classes. Thank you!
Sometimes your wash boarding are the bees getting salts from the surface of the hive. Other insects need salts to fly. I am sure bees need trace minerals too. It’s one of the reasons why bees like pool water. Bleach is NaClO. Leaving NaCl when broken down. If you spray salt water on the hive top you will see them go for it. I never understood the balling below the hive. Sometimes if you are examining frames the bees will do that there too.
That looks like my hive. Thanks for the video, it helped me understand what is going on.
Thank you David for your wonderful tips.
Thanks for the reassurance David. A couple of my larger colonies are doing the exact same thing. One colony swarmed in late June, even though they had plenty of room. They still have extra work to do and space with an upper vent hole to allow airflow but they still hang outside most of the day and beard through the night. Obviously, I have been concerned that they might swarm a second time and I'm keeping a close eye on them.
I think bees do wash boarding, because they’re trying to cool down inside the hive, the reason why I say that is, because my bees used to do wash boarding before I added a bottom screen board and a top ventilated opening, that why they got more airflow, so they stopped doing wash boarding ,and all of my bees now stay inside, none of them stay outside anymore 😁
I've seen this! I actually posted a short video. It did look like they were cleaning the landing board! 🤣
My bees do this daily, morning, noon and night..never worried. I observe my colonies start doing this as dearth begins, i strongly believe through weeks of observation that this is also a defense mechanism against robbing, a show of force keeps the yellow jackets and others away from all the stores inside that you can smell
Could they be trying to chew the wood of their hive boxes in order to thin the wooden walls of their boxes in order to reduce the amount of heat the boxes can hold? Also, could they be licking the wood of the boxes in the hope that evaporating saliva would help cool the walls of their hive boxes?
Great video David, thanks again. As a video guy I noticed that your recent videos are a little too high in contrast, you may consider turning that down a tad. I recall you were using cannons M 50, there should be plenty of videos on adjusting those settings. Have a super day
Yes. Mine are doing this.
I think they are preparing for the new queen...check in the box to see if a queen is about to hatch or recently hatched, maybe
Yes, my bees are doing this. They always do it during dearths and on their down time. I used a magnifying glass and looked at them. They are scrapping the wood with their mandibles and also on and off using their tongues. Yes, scientifically we can't say, but I truly believe they are just attempting to sanitize the outside of their hives. This makes sense to me. I cant see another reason why they would do this scrapping their mandibles and licking the wood.
You’re a really good teacher
You rock Dave!!
Thanks
No , Thank you for all and everything you do for me and the Army of bee keepers you provide Soo much for. N.t.
Hey Dave, last week I added my feeders and added a gallon of sugar water to each hive. My 2 strongest hives sucked down the syrup in less than a day. How do I know when enough is enough?
Are they putting down water/liquid when they "wash the deck"? Maybe they are trying to cause evaporation and cool the colony.
yep had this exact panic earlier this week!
Mine does.. im from the Philippines and its too humid. Thank you for this video..
3rd year beekeeper. I've had a lot of washboarding with my hives this year. I'm up in the Northwest burbs of Chicago. Healthy hives...but it's the first time I've witnessed it.
Bee hive👍👍👍
My bees are doing this. I've only seen it once in a few years and last time the entire hive left. I had bad hive beetles that year. This year I'm seeing this again. No swarm clumps or bearding. I thought it was strange that everyone of them is looking down. Last time they left lots of white wax all over the outside of the hive
Yes my bees are doing this every afternoon late, until morning.
Yes - mine are doing the washboard dance but only a little
Yes, I have one hive that washboards every day since late July - central Virginia
That’s 1 out of 4. The others don’t do that. They’ll accumulate outside but only 1 does the “wash boarding” movement.
How do you prepare for winter? I am a new bee keeper, and still trying to figure out what I need to prep my bees for winter
Washboarding after a heavy storm cleaning up the moisture maybe?
It’s a sign of the apocalypse!
Well if it’s due to excessive heat in the hive, and they are putting fluid on the hive the I say it’s for evaporative cooling of the hive.
I'd think put moisture on hive would allow the air to cool down over the moisture they're putting on by lickung
Does this happen after windy days? Just curious if whatever pollin is available has blown and stuck to the box plus the overheating causes them to go outside and lick up the pollin because there isn't anything else they can do. Just a thought
Great Educational video thank you for taking your time to but it together, its around 100 Degrees here mine are hanging outside to.
I have one hive that has made a full super of honey from wet frames I put on for them to clean. I want to harvest it and get the frames cleaned up and stored away. What is the best way to feed honey back to the hive. I don't do open feeding. What is your suggestion? I usually use zip locks for Sugar syrup. Will that work for honey?
Maybe eating anything that may have fallen of from inspection .Since they our pushed out from heat or lack of food?
I have video my bees in slow motion while washboarding. They are cleaning up microscopic pollen that falls off the thousands bees when they land on the hive or landing board. Too small to see but there nonetheless. Pollen is much like dust to the human eye. Their front legs scrap inward towards their tongue and they lap it up. So there is your answer to the wash boarding. 😊
Valid guess, but then why are they also on the front of the box where there is no pollen. But you make a good point. Go outside at night after dark and hold up a pin point flash light and you'll see all the pollen, dust and other crap we breathe. Terrible!
I know!! They are putting water on the boxes to create evaporation to get a cooler interior. Exterior air conditioning!! imo!
Yes, they are attacking for no reason at all
Could this washboarding behaviour either be, or be the instinctive motion from, their cooling behaviour inside the hive? As well as fanning, they are known to spread water with their tongues. And it seems to me that they are either doing that on the outside or just going through the same motion.
One of my hives does this much more than the other, within the past week or so they've actually started bearding off the bottom board in addition to the washboarding
Extremely hot here in Ontario, my bees bearding for days.
mine do that but i figured they were just cooling the hive off
I put Some shade over them, back to Normal
My bees are doing that here in Maine
Did also just take the supers off
Hot and humid in Southwest Ohio and my bees have been doing this for several days.
My bees are doing this but what is strange is that the temperatures have gotten a LOT lower now than they were for the last two months where our temperatures were never below 95 - 110. I know some of it is robbing because they are fighting some and they are going through sugar water like never before but not nectar in the brood area. But I don’t understand why they are doing it now (temps in 80s now, even feeling like fall already), when they didn’t do it when it was really hot. Very few mites, did the check last week….Maybe humidity ?
I saw so many bees flying just outside front of hive. I thought they were going to swarm but no. Could it just be orientation flights ?
And a question how do i stop the comb building in the feeder?
yes but go in around 2 am it hot here
My bees have started doing this, I thought they were over crowded, I looked inside and they're only just starting to draw the additional 5 frames after installing a nuc, got me wicked nervous, its my first year.
MINE TOO
At first I figured they were bearding due to the warmth
Mine are doing it
And I think they sucking up every little bit of pollen and nectar left
More about radiation, Have you notice that more tree are dead close to intersection?.Young tree is dead right beside old tree that is very green-why?. Enviroment , temperature, water, sun the same then why?--- GPS or 5-G.
First year my bees have done this.
I’m in se mo. Just got a bit of a flow starting, they’re still wash boarding after noon
I'm in Arkansas and 94 degrees
2 of my 3 hives have bees outside the box but not to the extend you are showing.
My bees are doing this
No never!
Yea not to mention crowding up in top feeder and bombing me when i feed them
Mine are doing this , unfortunately I don’t have that many 😞😞
Sir why does bees in our place carrying armyworms?
They would be removing a stray armyworm that wondered in the hive perhaps?
All my hives are bearding.
they are use to being busy nervous tension ???
Getting a bit late to get your mite numbers down isn't it?
Everyone should be running nothing higher than 1.5 / 100 at the highest and preferably 1's or less considering today's date.
Have done about 300 washes over the last 6 weeks ... Loads are dropping as the fall pollen starts to make its way into the bees menu. Anything running over a 2 right now probably won't be flying next March.
Regarding washboarding. .. It's a fall thing. See it almost every year.
yeah, my bees are doing this today. Help
Are they hot??
Isn't that called bearding
1st year beek, I've never seen my bees doing that. But they've turned mean 🤨
They are bored and dodilling