Dan Hendricks writes:

>One problem I haven't seen mentioned.  I cut out most of the bottom
>board and installed 1/8" hardware cloth on the top and reinstalled.
>A whole layer of bees then located themselves on the bottom side of
>the cloth!

    I've seen this too, on both sides of the mesh, and also wondered until I
realised that the bees on the top side were fanning; they were making a noise
like a dynamo, which could sometimes be heard several yards away. Normally I
have only found them doing this during a flow. This afternoon I gave the
hives a gallon of heavy syrup each, and within a short time the same sound
could be heard, quite loudly, though there were only a relatively few bees on
the mesh.

    The bees on the bottom side appeared to be trying to find their way into
the hive. The entrance needs to be about three inches away from the bottom in
order to stop bees becoming confused and ending up in the wrong place.

Regards,

Robert Brenchley,
Birmingham, UK.

[log in to unmask]