Angelmum21 Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Hi - I got my Beehaus in May, my nuc of bees in June and everything has been going well, but for some reason I have hundreds of worker bees living underneath the hive hanging off the mesh floor - has anyone else seen this? Is it just a feature of the very warm weather we have been having? Tried brushing some off into box and dumping them back in the hive but they seem to have gone back underneath. I can see the mouthparts of bees in the hive sticking through and am wondering if they are feeding them there for some reason? They are workers and not drones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 It sounds like a cast swarm to me. I've got bees handing out the front of mine because they desperately need another super, but if there's enough room and they are returning to the same place I reckon there's a queen in there. She might have wing damage and be unable to fly, I've seen that happen before. Can you see a queen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelmum21 Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 I have supers in place and they are starting to lay down wax on top of the frames in the same way they did in the brood box where they seemed to want to fill the space between the frames and the cover board first. I will look at cast swarms because I have never heard of that. I am going to have to examine them carefully for a queen when I get home from work tonight. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Speckled Hen Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 How long have they been there? If they are a cast then a) I'm sure you must have noticed that your colony had swarmed ( a cast being produced when your first virgin emerges some 8 to 10 days later. b) they would be starting to build comb if there was a queen there. They might be young bees who after their first flight have lost their way. If there is no queen there gather them up next time you have the hive open and dump them into the top. If there is a queen then do you want to keep her? Oooops....I see you would have looked in tonight. What did you find? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angelmum21 Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 Thanks for all the advice - I could not find a Queen and we did sweep some of them off and dropped them into the brood box but as my daughter got stung at that point we abandoned doing all of them.So I think they were, as you said, novice bees who for some reason could not get back into the hive so hung around underneath. I checked just now and there were only around a hundred because it is comparatively chilly this morning so I will sweep the rest in tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
