Bearding on Metpropolis

Wednesday and Thursday we had some pretty severe thunderstorms with high winds, rain and the usual lightening and thunder. The hives got through it fairly well except that on Friday night there was a great deal of bearding at the entrances of Metpropolis, the top bar hive. My initial reaction was to panic, "Ah, they are about to swarm!". Instead, I did some research, ending up at one of my more reliable sources of bee information: Michael Bush's website. Michael's site reassured me that the bearding was not necessarily a sign of swarming, and that, in any case, it did indicate that Metpropolis was a strong hive. I took his suggestions and increased ventilation that evening by removing the bottom board. Saturday morning I checked inside the hive to see if the bees had enough space and if there were any queen cells. No queen cells were found and I added one bar to the hive. By this morning (Sunday), the bearding had stopped. Next time, I will not panic.