# Getting ready to swarm?



## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

I do not think they are preparing to swarm. By all accounts from Friends in Connecticut and Springfield Ma. the Asteraceae flow is very slow although the pollen is good the nectar is fair at best. bees rarely swarm without a flow. 
The unusually warm weather and High humidity have resulted in excessive bearding. and normal occurrence under such conditions. 

Or they are mad because the hive is sideways :lpf:


----------



## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

I'm going to say "maybe". That hive looks sort of like a single medium. They're crowded. It's only 78 degrees there in east granby right now so the bearding would be odd imo. Inspect and see if you got queen cells. I've caught September swarms too many times to say it's not possible.


----------



## dvto2 (Feb 1, 2016)

aunt betty said:


> I'm going to say "maybe". That hive looks sort of like a single medium. They're crowded. It's only 78 degrees there in east granby right now so the bearding would be odd imo. Inspect and see if you got queen cells. I've caught September swarms too many times to say it's not possible.


So if they are, should I try to divide it? They were really irritable enten I tride to look last week and I have up to leave things alone.


----------



## dvto2 (Feb 1, 2016)

So the beard is gone this afternoon.


----------



## Artur_M (Aug 14, 2016)

My hives are always like that, particularly in the morning and evening.
They didn't swarm yet 

I think humidity and hot weather has something to do with that: mostly high humidity.


----------



## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Look inside the hive and tell us what condition it's in. Should take you like 5 minutes to look thru that one box. 
If you find queen cells it's in swarm mode. 
Not sure about Conn. but we're in a nice goldenrod flow here right now. Can smell my bee yard from 1/4 mile away and I like it. Smells like dirty socks.


----------



## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

Mine are looking the same way, although not quite as bad. I stole 3 bars from the brood nest the other week and gave them empty ones. Through the window those 3 are completely filled already, so I don't think mine are out of room.

My guess would be your workers are just camped out on the front porch because most of the space inside is filled up. Like someone else said, you will have to do an inspection of the brood nest to know for sure. If you have a few bars of capped honey, pull them out to the freezer and give them 2 empty bars in the brood nest to see if it relieves some congestion.


----------



## fruitveggirl (Mar 8, 2013)

I would agree with the others and say that you have to check them to be sure, but unless you've been feeding heavily, I don't see why they'd be making swarm prep -- we've had a terrible flow overall this year in CT, and the fall has been miserable. Definitely check them, but my guess is that they may have been crowded. As I recall, last Tuesday was a bit warmish. 

BTW, I'm about 10-15 miles south of you. So cool to see another TBH person in the Farmington Valley on here!


----------

