Bearding. When Bees Know Better Than We Do.
Every summer it happens.A warm evening arrives and suddenly thousands of bees are hanging from the front of the hive in a thick curtain. Within minutes the questions begin. “Are they going to swarm?” “Are they suffocating?” “I need to open more ventilation.” “I should add a screened bottom board.” It is remarkable how quickly we assume that a colony displaying one of its oldest natural behaviours must somehow be asking us for help. The truth is often much simpler because bearding is one of the ways a healthy colony regulates its internal environment. Honey bees have spent millions of years nesting inside tree cavities where there were no adjustable vents, no screened floors, no insulated roofs designed by beekeepers and certainly no one opening entrances every time the weather became hot. Wild colonies beard too. This has been documented repeatedly in natural tree cavities across the world. If bearding were a sign of failure, honey bees would ne...