Bearding is when bees hang around on the entrance of the hive, on the ‘entrance porch’ so to talk, and make an enormous hanging mass of our bodies which seems to be like a beard on the hive. This normally solely occurs when it’s tremendous scorching out, and the bees can’t maintain the hive on the 93 levels they like. They take away some warmth from the hive by eradicating our bodies. Good, proper? However bees may also beard after they run out of room, or if there may be poor air flow within the hive.

See the image on the prime of this put up? That’s a stupendous comb, from our prime bar hive. Since prime bars don’t use frames, like Langstroth hives, the bees construct on a bar which rests on the highest (therefore the title). What this enables is for the bees to construct the way in which they like. And bees wish to construct their comb in catenary curves. When the hive is stage, the comb completely matches the form of the hive field, permitting for one thing referred to as ‘bee house,’ which implies there’s simply sufficient room on the edges and backside for the bees to maneuver freely across the colony.

Gravity performs an enormous position in how bees construct comb; they naturally construct according to the pull of gravity. When a hive is stage, they create a great comb. When a hive isn’t stage, the bees are confused. They construct asymmetrically or in a cool form. The comb can encroach on different combs, and create a large number. It will possibly additionally lean with the hive, and honey is heavy, so the comb can slide off the highest bar and create an unlimited sticky pile of wax, honey, and bees on the backside of the hive.

My working principle, whereas viewing the leaning hive, and the fixed bearding, and after listening to how Tom, when working within the hive, discovered numerous comb caught to the perimeters and backside (so the bees weren’t constructing comb accurately), was that the unevenness of the hive was previous the purpose the place a shim would assist. We simply wanted to redo the whole space. This was a bummer, as a result of it meant we needed to transfer the hive.