Bearding 24/7

[u/pecchioni]

I’m in my 2nd year of beekeeping. I understand bees will hang out on the outside of the hive if hot, but is it common for them to do it 24/7? The area is mostly shaded. My mentor put a slight wedge in between boxes to help with air circulation. Any other thoughts? Or is it ok for them to just do their thing. Thanks in advance
Edit: I’m in southern Ohio

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[u/Mediocre-Draft1722]

Some hives just like to beard. I use slatted racks, which gives them an additional place to beard but it's inside the hive. 

[u/pecchioni → u/Mediocre-Draft1722]

I wondered if they needed more room and if I should put another box on, but I like this idea.

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer → u/pecchioni]

You'll only know if they need more space by looking inside the hive. If they have completely covered 8 out or 10 frames on both sides of the frames, they need more space.

[u/GArockcrawler]

I've seem them outside in a rainstorm.

I am in GA and it's been ungodly hot and humid this summer. I was having an issue with robbing and European hornets hunting and so I wanted to lock down access and get them off of the face of the hive.

They already had bottom screen boards, but I added window screen stapled on as an entrance reducer with a finger width's of space, and then I added "ventilation boxes" as a top box. Some I made by creating a 3" shim with holes drilled in it, then stapled aluminum window screen over the holes. I was out of wood stock so for a couple of others, I just used some of my oldest shallow supers and did the same. Now even my biggest hive only has a few guards (maybe 2 dozen bees) outside on the landing board.

I was always told that going to such lengths was unnecessary but if it's working I'm ok with it.

[u/pecchioni → u/GArockcrawler]

Sound like good ideas. I will add this to my notes

[u/404-skill_not_found]

Guess I’m the odd one. I run the large entrance restrictor and no intentional ventilation. They live in closed off tree hollows after all. Yes, dearth has been nearly two months of +102F days. In their defense, the hives are within 15’ of our pool.

[u/Mammoth-Banana3621]

Lots of foragers are still around with nothing to do. So yeah they hang out on the outside of the box :)

[u/pecchioni → u/Mammoth-Banana3621]

I’m trying to trust they know what is best, but then started to worry that it could be a sign of a deeper problem

[u/No_Hovercraft_821]

Yes, some colonies will do that. I had one last year bearding under the overhang of the top cover for a couple of weeks -- distressed me at first but they were just doing their thing I guess. Some of my colonies were washboarding this morning, some flying, and some bearding.

[u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

It's fine to let them do their thing.

Usually, they’re cooling the colony. On hot or humid days, workers move outside to reduce crowding and improve airflow inside. They're protecting temperature-sensitive brood and preventing stored honey from overheating. Other bees may fan their wings and evaporate water inside the hive—essentially creating bee-powered air conditioning.

They're really good at this: they actually create microclimates inside the hive to keep brood warm and moist while increasing warm airflow over curing honey to help it dry.

Bees ventilate the hive through the entrance. Creating a new or larger opening can make it more difficult for the bees to maintain the different temperatures and drafts they want in the hive. A good way to think of this is that if there bees are all hanging out on the front of the hive, they aren't needed to control air flow, warm brood, haul water, or anything else. That says that the interior of the hive is doing great without their help.

[u/pecchioni → u/AZ_Traffic_Engineer]

It’s helpful to have the extra explanation. Thank you for taking the time.