Late Afternoon Orientation Flights of my Bees

Yesterday I came out to visit the hives to a wild amount of activity.  A considerable number of bees were flying around one of the hives. 

Orientation flights are done by young bees who are experimenting with flying outside the hive.

They are easy to recognize as they are young and fuzzy and take small flights off the landing board.

You can watch them take small flights, just off the board with subsequent flights going just a little further!

Orientation flights will cause a lot of activity at the hive, sometimes this is confused with robbing.

When you watch orientation flights though you'll realize that in the buzz of activity everything is actually quite calm.

Many beeks initially confuse orientation with robbing behavior, robbing bees will typically be in a frenzy, wrestling on the ground and causing damage to combs.  Look for pieces of wax dropped through your screened bottom board.