OK, since the traffic has been slow lately I will ask a question I have
wondered about for a long time.  I am sure the answer is in the archives,
but I do not even know how I would begin that search.  Here's the question.

I have noticed a phenomenon occasionally where my bees will exit the hive in
very large numbers and then circle the hive rather noisily for 15-30 minutes
and then all re-enter the hive.  The times I have noticed this were all on
nicer days than average in the spring or fall and usually early in the day.
At first I thought it was swarming behavior, but I have never seen swarm
cells in those hives and while the number of bees in the air is high, it is
never on the order of a swarm - maybe a few hundred, but not a few thousand
bees.  I have observed one hive do this only to be followed by another hive
shortly after or even two hives doing it at the same time.  What are the
bees doing?

Thanks,


Randy Flaming

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