Bees Bearding--It's hot!

Here's what my bees were doing this afternoon--isn't it amazing? I was concerned that they might be swarming, but in fact they are "bearding"--hanging out on the outside of the hive to get cool. Below is some great info I found about this on line, and the difference between bearding and swarming:

"Bearding is a form of hive air-conditioning; the bees depart the immediate brood nest area in order to help keep it at the desired temperature (too many busy bee bodies = too many BTUs). When you see all the bees outside the hive an hour before sundown, you'll also notice the following morning (early a.m.), most if not all, have gone back inside the hive because the outside air temperature (and thus the hive temp) has dropped - again, just a way they regulate the brood nest temperature. This is less likely to be observed in the Spring or early Spring when Swarming is at it's peak.

"If you have a hive that's on the verge of swarming, you won't so much see the bees "bearding" as you'll observe them actually departing the hive and yet not really leaving the immediate area of the hive. There may be a "small cloud" of bees hovering eight or ten feet in front of the hive and five to fifteen feet above ground level. And they may do this activity a few times before the main body of the swarm actually departs the hive. Eventually these false starts will lead to the final departure with the swarm queen - usually the old queen - unless your hive is throwing off multiple swarms, in which case, even a virgin queen can lead a swarm away (usually a MUCH smaller swarm). "

Whew! Glad to know they weren't packing their bags and looking for roomier quarters.