Location, Location

[Parke County Queen]

I have a hard time finding a good location on our property. We have 4 1/2 acres, but most of it is woods. The other part of our yard gets late sun because we have a huge ridge to the east. My newest hive is in a location where it gets early sun for about 3 hours, then is in the shade the rest of the day. The other three hives are in an area where they get later sun - around 10:00, but are in it all day. Which would be better??

[wfarler]

all day sun for honey prodution / drying
morning sun encourages early foraging but the bees need some heat to dry honey and rear brood.

take into account the winter winds - they can be killers

[naturebee]

I would go with a spot that gets sun most of the day, and a wind break from winter winds. Morning sun is good to promote early foraging, but most flowers don’t produce much nectar anyways till the day heats up a bit.

[Parke County Queen]

Ok, Thanks for the advise. I just installed this nuc on Saturday. Would it be better to wait for awhile to disturb them again, or go ahead and move them??

[Michael Bush]

First, put them where you can get to them with a truck or car. If that coincides with all day sun that's better. If you can get morning sun, thats the next best. If they are in the shade all day, so are most feral bee hives in a tree. They will probably do fine and they will be much more fun to work in the heat of summer.

>Would it be better to wait for awhile to disturb them again, or go ahead and move them??

Go ahead and move them. Put something in front of the entrance (a branch or a board) to block they path so they have to fly around it. This will cause them to reorient (as evidenced by the circles they fly when they leave the first time).