Have you noticed honey bees in your hives hanging as if linked in a chain, hooked together by their legs, between the frames of foundation in your hive?
![festooning JU13_phil](http://philcrafthivecraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/festooning-JU13_phil3-1024x453.jpg)
These bees are “festooning” or hanging in a festoon or chain. This behavior is linked to beeswax production, but not well understood by bee scientists. I read that the reason for this activity is to create the proper temperature for wax production, but I wonder about the actual science behind this assumption. If any of you can provide a link or reference from a scientific source of a detailed explanation for this behavior please send it to me.
This post was prompted by honey bees festooning in my hives recently, in a recently added honey super containing frames with fresh foundation.
![festooning JU13_phil2](http://philcrafthivecraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/festooning-JU13_phil22-992x1024.jpg)
![festooning JU13_phil5](http://philcrafthivecraft.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/festooning-JU13_phil5-1024x931.jpg)