From the Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Canadian Honey Council meeting I saw an abstract on washboarding.  This has been a subject on bee-l several times that I know of and I thought it might be of interest.  I put in the paragraphs to make it easier to read and I have retyped it so apologies for any mistakes.  The abstract reads:-

"Understanding "Washboarding" behavior in the honey bee by K. Bohrer and J. Pettis

Worker honey bees exhibit a "group" activity know as washboarding on the internal and external surfaces of the hive.  This behavior is believed to be associated with general cleaning activities but virtually nothing is known as to the age of the worker engaged in the behavior, under what circumstances workers washboard and the function of the behavior.  

We investigated the frequency of washboarding behavior in relation to worker age, time of day and surface texture. Marked worker bees began washboarding at 13 days of age, with the peak washboarding occurring when workers were 15-25 days of age.  Washboarding behavior increased from 8.00am to 2.00pm and remained elevated until late evening.  

We presented workers with a panel containing three textures, unpainted wood, slate and glass on hives that were washboarding. Comparisons of washboarding behavior on the three textures revealed that washboarding increased from glass to wood to slate but that these differences were not significant.  Washboarding behavior appears to be age dependant with bees most likely to washboard between 15-25 days of age.  Washboarding increases during the day and peaks through the afternoon.  

Workers may respond to rough surfaces and washboard more on these surfaces as we found and increase in the behavior from bees on glass, wood and slate but further testing is needed to confirm this.  The function of this behavior remains to be elucidated."

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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