Kind of a spooky dawn this morning. The haze has created this effect I suppose. The only green in our landscape is the genetically modified crops but even they are beginning to curl up in the heat of the day. 
When bees encounter very high temperatures they use a number of systems to cool the hive. They like to keep the hive at a temperature of 90-95 (32-35C) all year round. Normally they regulate the temperature by fanning in the summer or huddling in the winter. When the temperatures are in excess of 100F then they order extra water collection. In fact many honey collectors will be sent for water instead. The collected droplets are laid in a line just inside the entrance to the hive and rotating squadrons of bees are sent out to fan air across the water line, with another set of bees inside fanning the cooler air up into the hive.
If you put your ear to the hive wall you will hear the noise of thousands of wings, it sounds like the roar of a small motor revved to the max. If it is still too hot many of the bees will crawl right out of the hive and loiter about at the entrance, freeing up space in the hive for the air to flow to the brood. This causes overcrowding at the nightclub doors, and they get in the way of the fanners, so the bouncers send the crowd out into the street and up the walls to cool off. Creating a thick gathering of buzzing bees on the outside of the hive. This is called bearding. Bearding is common in the heat. Bearding has nothing to do with swarming.
To help the over heating hive I need to make sure there is plenty of water around, and that the hive is vented with my stick at the top. The rest I leave to the bees. And hope the temperatures drop soon.
When I have the vents open they order extra guard bees to make sure there are no intruders.
One of my hives has a heaving mass who hangs out on the shaded side of the hive, the wall is thick with them. They are bearding normally. The other hive has a scattering of bees all over it and they are all facing downwards. I did not notice how they were arranged until I processed the image.
This can mean that there has been a mutiny and a large portion of the hive is considering doing a runner. These girls have been sent outside to wait. They are the rabble in the streets waiting for the order. They might be going to swarm due to overcrowding. I am sure the heat contributes to this. So this hive will have to be inspected today. Which is pretty mean as the fanners and the droplet collectors will have regulated the temperature in the hive and when I open it up I am going to disrupt all their hard work and let the hot air in. 
Good morning. My weather man tells me that we have one more day of this heavy hot weather. Let’s hope so. The prolonged high temperatures are beginning to wear on the animals. The Baby Bobby Blanc is being fed extra water through-out the day as he has become unusually lethargic. The Big Dog who is quite old has become very hobbly and wobbly on his feet and is not eating very much and Queenie had to be prodded and scared up yesterday evening after lying down all day. Her mouth is open, panting and she is dribbling saliva. I mist her with the hose during the day and I did get her to move out into a new field last night with the others. But I had to point the lemon grass fly spray at her to make her move to the water trough. She hates the fly spray. Why that cow is having trouble in the heat I do not know. The others are fine. Daisy as you know is giving more milk than ever. But losing weight. We are all losing weight.
One of the big pigs is having the same trouble but he will lie under the sprinkler cooling off. So he is a bit easier to manage. Once again though they are not keeping up with their feed. The only ones thriving in the heat are the chickens as they go around cleaning up everyone else’s uneaten expensive grain and hanging out under the pigs sprinklers, ruffling their feathers and chatting.
No-one eats in the day time when it is this hot. All the smaller animals and birds are getting extra milk and eggs to compensate. The sheep and cows are being fed alfalfa in the shade.
So today will be another day of gathering water and fanning for the bees and laying under the trees for the large animals and dragging hoses for me. We are managing so far though, our systems are working. One more day.
I hope you all find something lovely today. Whether you are cool or hot.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
94 responses to “Bees in the Heat”
So interesting! Thank you.
Here’s hoping that it is the last very hot day for you and the farmy! It’s a lot of work keeping everyone cool – or encouraging them to stay cool – and how interesting about the bees, I had no idea!
Mornin’ C; You really have to be tuned in to the bees, watching for little, tiny, barely noticeable (to the untrained eye) changes in their behavior…you amaze me everyday. So happy to have “met” you.
Hope you have a wonderful day.
It is again in the triple digits here with extremely high humidity. Some days I do wish for a/c…(if only for a moment) of course I would have it on in the barn. lol
J
morning jess, it really is a matter of looking with your eyes wide open, then going and finding out why. To have one hive doing one thing and the one next door doing another is a flag demanding research.. and I am sure you walk your fields doing the same thing, looking for changes that are the warnings.. c
Hi Celi! We thought something was wrong when we noticed bearding going on with our bees, but quickly discovered that it was normal, thank goodness! Do you just need to add a super onto the hive that’s overcrowded? We just added another super onto ours, the second one this summer. But we are new beekeepers and are really just feeling our way along!
I have also added supers. but i have run out and need to order some more (poo). If they are crowded in there you really have to give them space. But once you take off your honey you will reduce the space again for the winter so they stay warmer.. I don;t think bearding neccessarily means overcrowding though – it means hot. Everyone outside so we can get some air! You should find that by morning they have funnelled back in. If not then add another super and think about splitting the hive in the spring.. c
Splitting the hive in the Spring is probably a good idea…and would hopefully avoid them swarming and going somewhere else. I hope we know more about it by then! Right now we can recognize the brood chambers and larvae, but cannot recognize the queen. Finding her is proving increasingly difficult!!!
Don’t worry about it.. i have never found a queen in my life. Once I did by taking shots of where i thought she might be and then looking for her on the screen! I split my hives last year and they swarmed after i split them! so you will still need to look for queen cells. I am still learning as i go along. I think you might get some honey this year though by the sounds of it!
Boy, do I ever understand your plight! As you well know we just had our first rain since January. I first real moisture. Now for two days we have had temperatures in the high 70* (what a blessing) after bruising and punishing and scorching sun and heat these clouds, cool fallish temperatures are refreshing.
Hope the rain and the clouds make it to you soon!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
so do i.. no rain in the forecast though, nowhere, but the cool weather will come tonight they say!.. c
I missed you Celi. It is not like I did not want to visit all your lovely posts I have been having some issues with WordPress reader and for time I was not able to access anyone and now for some reason you are not showing up in my reader. I think I have IT gremlins. what is going on? I sure hope it cools down on the farm. Can you imagine if you were a bee near the honey it would like being stuck in hot lava. Stay cool. BAM
i think the notification of post problem has got me too, A few weeks ago and from one day to the next, my readers dropped by 400. Which was significant and incredibly depressing. I love my readers and I notice when they are missing. So from memory i have trolled around looking for people. Slowly they are building up again, and of course many are still here every day but i have to imagine that i have dropped off a lot of peoples lists. Plus of course i am suffering the same problem from the other side where i have lost people I often read, though i often visit people when i want to as well, I seldom refer to the lists to find my favourites.. Thats why i pop in to see you on odd days, you will pop into my head and I will pop over.. c
Perhaps the powers that be could send you a lovely thunderstorm this evening to cool things off. I hope your temperatures drop soon — if I could ship you our abundant fog and breezes I would.
We would love a good storm, i mean the grass needs it but my muddy cows need it too, they all need a good wash!
What an interesting story about the bees. The only bees we have in my neighbourhood are the wild ones. They don’t have to worry about heat so far, but have to contend with very cool nights. Yesterday morning I found one huge bumble bee curled up in a peony bloom – as soon as the sun warmed it up it headed off on its rounds.
Morning Margie, what a sweet sleep that bee must have had in a pillowy peony! c
hi c! we used to rent kiplings house in brattleboro vermont until they stopped allowing dogs. i sure hope this is the last day for this heat. today will be our hottest day yet. we are supposed to be 108. unreal and downright awful. i hope your animals hang in there and get through this awful day without any trouble. that sure is interesting about the bees. they sure are smart. joyce
we are going to 104 today, i am not even going to think about the heat index, but 108 sounds dreadful.. i hope you get some cool weather soon too joyce.. c
Hello Celi, I recognise that sunrise from many hot summers.
This evenings news had footage of your heatwave; hopefully a cool change is headed your way soon!
Well, I think bees are going to do what they’re going to do. Opening the hive won’t change that and Stella and I have decided not to stress them further by nosing around inside and leave them be, figuring they know what they need more than we do. Just a thought.
i think you may be right, we have already decided it is going to be too hot to look today, though i will tomorrowwhen it is cooler, to see if they need another super.. they are bringing in lots of honey this year!
We seem to have a distinct shortage of bees this year, which is worrying. Normally the lavender and the honeysuckle is alive with bees, but all is silent. There is always the thought of fertilisers which our peasant farmers use like they’re going out of fashion ( which they have).
How strange that your wild bees have gone.. though you have had a lot of rain and cold , which will slow them down? c
I feel so sorry for critters in the hot days. After endless heat, rain came last night. Cooler temps and rain forecast for the next few days. Cooler air is heading your way!
blow harder alice, move it on up the pike!! lovely news1 c
I find the bee posts fascinating, but what do you mean by “They are bearding normally” ? Morning !
When they climb up the walls outside the hive in a thick mass that is normal, when they are thinly scattered that is an indication of something else .. maybe.. maybe not. c
Hang on a bit longer, C. The cooler air is coming. It just takes a while to cool down once they get the doors to Hell closed again.
The weathermen here are out of their leagues. Today, they say it will be a high of 101, but could be over 106. I think that’s a pretty broad range. But by Monday, it should be 20 degrees cooler. I think it’s appropriate. Today is my daughter’s birthday. The last time we had an extended period of temperatures this high was when she was born, in 1993. So it’s her fault. I knew it would be.
Well happy daughters birthday to you Dad! 106 sounds nasty, we are looking at 104. And i need to get out there shortly and makes sure everyone is under cover .. we can do another day, just one mind you! Morning Bill.. c