screened bottom boards

[hairbear]

I bought some hives this spring that had screened bottom boards on them . We had a really dry summer , 4 of the hives superseeded.  1st of august I found 4 clusters of bees with a Queens on the bottom of the 4 hives all had started to draw out comb.  I moved them into a deep and they started to develope into a hive.  Today I found another large cluster of bees on the bottom of a screened bottom board on another hive. This is a very large cluster maybe 3 or 4 gallon of bees on a very strong hive. Why don't the bees find a tree or somthing else? Why would they be swarming at this time of year?

[Brian D. Bray]

Crowded conditions inside the hive is usually the primary reason for swarms anytime of the year.  Bees can feel crowded even when a super is inplace if a queen excluder was installed as part of the supering.  Some hives just plain refuse to work beyond the barrier the exclude creates. It is better to use a slatted rack if a barrier between the brood boxes and the supers are desired.

[hairbear]

I guess I did not realize that bee would swarm like that. I am not familiar with a slatted rack.  When I bought these hives they all had queen excluders on them, some hives would not go past the excluder so I removed the exculder on the hives that wre not going into the supers. Is there any chance a swarm caught at this time of year can make through the winter?

[Michael Bush]

I have not had a lot of bees on the botom of the SBB but then mine are only 3 1/2" off the ground and the grass tries to grow under there.  I'm wondering if it isn't just an extension of a bee beard but on the bottom.

[Brian D. Bray]

>>Is there any chance a swarm caught at this time of year can make through the winter?

Depends on several things: 1. Drawn comb is used exclusively, 2. Feed, feed, and feed some more,  3.  It was a large swarm ( a rarity this late in the season), and 4. weather conditions remain optimal.

If 1-3 are not met then the best thing to do is combine it with another hive.