Bee Bearding

Are you seeing this on your hive?

 

We have received several calls over the last few weeks from new beekeepers seeing their colonies hanging out outside their hives. In general, this is not a cause for concern. This is a natural thing that the bees do, called bearding.

There are a variety of reasons for bearding, which are illustrated in this fantastic article from Bee Thinking.

Here is a video illustrating bearding from two of our own hives, one in Lindon and one in Provo:

Contact us if you see any behavior in your bees that is not illustrated in the article or video. It may be a sign that they're about to start swarming.