Hot Beards

As someone who can’t grow facial hair well, I’ve always been envious of men who can grow excellent beards. For whatever, I just wasn’t gifted with those genes. That doesn’t mean however that I don’t get to see my fair share of beards. Though these beards may not be the one’s you’re used to.

In my bee yard in Charlotte, NC, I see “beards” of bees (aka bearding) everyday this time of the year! This behavior is most common when it gets hot outside as this is the way for the honeybees to keep the inside of the hive cool enough to develop brood and maintain beeswax. It’s so common that I often use it as a marker to show which hives are doing the best. More honeybees and more bearding typically means a healthier colony!

While this is pretty common to see this time of the year, here in Charlotte, NC (as with the rest of the country), we’ve had a pretty hot summer. Highs have been in the upper 90s the past week or so which is just hotter than what the honeybees like to keep their hive’s thermostat set to (96.8 max).

What I hear a lot of beekeepers ask me is if it’s okay for a hive to beard. This also usually coincides with the time of the year that beekeepers take their honey supers off, thus reducing the space in the hive and increasing congestion. The picture seen above is from one of my beehives that’s experiencing some moderate bearding.

Bearding is perfectly normal behavior in honeybees. In fact, with feral colonies it’s often the way most homeowners realize they have honeybees living in their soffit or ceiling due to the large amount of bees they see from the outside of the cavity. The main problem that can arise from it however is swarming, which if this happens in summer, it can spell death for the bees that swarmed if they can’t find adequate food sources.

The remedy? Simple! Just add back on another box, ideally with frames that have drawn out comb. Just empty foundation frames will leave the bees with nothing to store food or brood in since they aren’t drawing out comb anymore at this time of the year. It might be hard to get your hands on some drawn out frames but that’s exactly why we beekeepers hoard that stuff like gold!

Putting boxes on your hives also doubles as wax moth protection. You can also do this with drawn out honey supers, maybe even the ones you took off now that they’re empty, though I personally prefer using deep frames.

This isn’t to say that all hives that are bearding will swarm. In my experience it’s usually the hives that I see having a swarm-sized beards on them that do this. The hive in the picture for example likely won’t swarm and before you know it the cooler temperatures will be here to give more comfort to the bees.

In my apiary I use it best to indicate if my hives are healthy. If a hive is bearding this time of year, GOOD. They are SUPPOSED to be doing that. More often than not, when I go inspecting the hives that aren’t bearding I’m going to see some really concerning things in there (mites, virus, hive beetles, starvation, etc.).

In other words, let your beards grow long and use them as a way to show you how well your bees are doing!