How to move hive?

[East Texas Pine Rooter]

I have 2-ferrel hives that have branches over the top entrance facing south. 1-hive I've had for a month, the other i've had since this past monday. I have another hive facing north that i want to relocate along side the other two, that i have had since april. The north facing hive is 15-feet in front of the south facing hives. The hives will all be 2-feet apart from each other. How do you do it? what time of day is best? The north facing hive is atop a water well, and is hard to work.

[oregonsparkie]

What I do is wait until dark when the bees should be in the hive. If they are clustered on the outside by the entrance I gently brush them towards the entrance..They usually run inside. After they are inside I stick a wadded piece of paper towel or dried grass in the entrance to block their escape. The next morning I move the hive then remove the paper or grass and let them out..

[Michael Bush]

Since I can't get that much help, I just move them in the middle of the day a box at a time. Put an empty box at the old location for the returning foragers and move it after dark NEXT to the new location and then remove that box the next day. Also put a branch in front of the hive you moved so they reorient when they leave.

[Daisy]

I've done it like MB because I didn't have helpers or the equipment, (if such equipment exists).

Well I have a little red wagon that works pretty good.

[Rooster4473]

I moved a hive two nights ago. I split it in half so I could have help moving it in two sections (a deep and a medium, and a medium and two supers) I taped the holes on some inner covers and used them to block the bees in. I popped the sections into the back of the Jeep and drove them to the farm.

Everything was going good. I got to the farm and I was just gonna stack the pieces and let them loose the next day. That's when I realized that the top section, the one with out the queen, or any kind of ventalation felt hot already, and of course they sounded ticked. So I decided to remove the covers and recombine the hive that night. Of course I had no idea how ticked off they had become and when I removed the cover, the started attacking the flashlight and pretty much everything else that went near them. I guess moving a big hive in two pieces in the middle of the night is a not such a good idea.

[Michael Bush]

Opening it in the middle of the night is always a bad idea. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Rooster4473]

Yea, I don't remember anyone ever telling me not to open a hive at night, but now I know. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

I put the hive next to a hay field just over run with blooming purple clover. Hopefully that is a good nector flower. The bees may only have a week or two, depending on the weather, before the farmer takes a second cut to bail, so it was a spur of the moment decision, and that night was when I was determined to move em.

I hate to say it now, but I hope it rains a little every couple days, so he can't cut hay. Its a beautiful field, I wish I had moved the hive sooner, but now that it's there it is permitted to stay, so next year should be good.

[Daisy]

It's probably an instinctual thingy. Bees might be reacting as if from a threat from bears or other predators.

They're pretty irritable also if there is low pressure etc. Signifying rain. They're very touchy. Right off the bat, they'll come at cha'

[hobbee]

I moved 5 last month ,I waited till night fall ,smoked them to make them retreat into the hive ,then taped the entrances shut .then staped all the boxes to each other with hive staples slipped a hand truck under them ,winch strapped them to the handtruck and rolled them to the other side of the yard
then ripped off the tape and put a board in front of the flight path out of the hive to make them get their bearings of the surrounding area ,worked like a charm

[Rooster4473]

I have been thinking about getting a hand truck to help move em. Either that or from now on where they are is where they are gonna stay. But I do have that "change my mind on a whim" mentality. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Michael Bush]

It will be easier on the bees if you leave them in one place. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif Or move them more than 2 miles.