Cluster of Bees

For the last two days it has been around 90ºF with a low the mid 60sºF at night. I was up early this morning and I looked out the back window to see this large mass of bees on “Club Fergie.” I didn't think that it was particularly warm, so I went out to investigate.

Sure enough there was some fanning going on. Fanning occurs when the hive temperature is above 95ºF. Most likely these forager went outside to help alleviate some of the heat. However with the outside temperature being much lower, these bees probably began to cluster together for warmth. Clustering occurs when the temperature begins to drop close to 57ºF.

Recently I had changed the entrance reducer to make the entrance larger, it is still in the mid 40sºF at night and cooler so I didn't want to remove it completely. We are still 3 weeks away here from our average last frost date.