# Bearding on hive



## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

We started a new package of bees this spring. All seemed well for the first 2 months, and then in late July, they swarmed even though there was plenty of room in brood chambers and the honey supers. We caught the swarm and started a new hive, which we have been feeding ever since in the hopes of getting them through winter. About 3 weeks after the swarm (mid-August), we noticed the original hive was COVERED with bees. We watched to see if they were swarming again, but it turns out they were just bearding on it. Every day, they gathered on the outside, and every night, they went back inside. The weather was really hot, so we assumed they were cooling outside. The odd thing was, the hive was still basically empty--very little brood, almost no honey, but TONS of bees. There is some brood, and they are clearly multiplying, so something is happening, but it was weird. We kept watching. The weather cooled way down, and the bees continued to cover the outside of the hive during the day. Now we are baffled. There is plenty of space and ventilation in the hive (we use screened bottom boards), but the bees are not building comb, storing honey, and laying eggs like other hives we've had. I am totally puzzled. Any ideas?


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Had any spraying in your area? Herbicides as well as insecticides. We are just now getting some idea of how destructive herbicides are with bees. Even when the dose isn't enough to kill them is really messes them up.


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## redgate (Sep 18, 2008)

Not that I'm aware of. We spray nothing on our property, and they are harvesting the corn around the county now, so no spraying that I know of. Of course, the crop dusters do a lot of spraying through summer before harvest, so unless it screwed them up early on (and they'd have to fly at least a mile away for that), I don't know.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

Bees gather nectar and pollen up to 3 miles from their hives. Herbicides do some nasty things to bees. When it doesn't kill them outright it can mess up their ability to orient/navigate, it affects reproduction in queens and drones. It causes neurological damage. 

Then there are the pollens of plants that have been genetically modified. Some plants have been bred to have built in insecticides. Obviously those would be harmful to bees. I don't know what affects some of the other pollens might have.

I lost 28 hives last year to herbicide spraying.


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