The sight of a fully exposed hive seems somewhat tropical to believe
bees could survive so exposed.

This summer ('99) I was called out for some thirty-plus wild hive
removals.  Bees were making homes of every kind of conceivable space
left un-insulated around a house, garage or barn.  Three(3!) turned out
where the entire hive was built outside of the house.  All three
incidents were strikingly similar and had proper cracks allowing access
to the roof.  Bees weren't just running out of inside-building space and
continuing by way of the 'would-be' hive entrance.  Instead it looked as
if the swarms just couldn't be convinced to find their way inside.

Perhaps a stubborn queen couldn't be moved the last few inches.  Maybe
the queen(s) started laying during the time she was part of  a 'swarm'.
All three had the findings of a perfectly good bee home just inches away
from their exposed cluster.  Two of those three are now living happily
in a Langstroth hive - the third was too dangerous to cut out.

Colorado (USA) weather in NO way lends itself to bees surviving fully
exposed past September so it's amazing to see these anomalies from a
beekeeping perspective.


Matthew Westall - Castle Rock, CO  USA
Earthling Bees, Inc. - "Take Me To Your Feeder"