3 feet or 3 miles

[linda montgomery]

I just caught a swarm and have them in a brood box with several frames of foundation. I want to give them to a near-by neighbor. I understand I must move them at least 3 miles away from me before I can move them to her house several blocks away. How long do they need to be gone before I can move them to my friend?

[livetrappingbymatt]

never heard that before? i move one mile for 24-48 hrs or what ever i time for.
i'm not an expert so wait till someone else posts.
bob

[kc in wv]

Michael Bush say's to put something to change the entrance and you don't have to move them and then back.

I tried it and it works. 2 weeks ago I moved a hive about 1/2 mile away for pollination. I put a bunch of grass on the landing board after they were set up in the new location. None of the bee's came home.

[Michael Bush]

Do you have other hives? You can just move them and let it go at that. Put a branch in front and it will help with reorientation but often some will fly back to the old location and circle until they find the new one. If there are hives these bees will find a home there.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm

[George Fergusson]

I just caught a swarm and have them in a brood box with several frames of foundation. I want to give them to a near-by neighbor. I understand I must move them at least 3 miles away from me before I can move them to her house several blocks away. How long do they need to be gone before I can move them to my friend?

You'll find a lot in the archives about reorientation and moving hives short distances. I've had success moving hives very short distances- 50-100 feet- without taking any extreme measures other than putting a branch in front of the hive entrance to help trigger reorientation. Some bees get confused for a while but eventually fly around and relocate their home. I once moved a new swarm 3/4 of a mile and I lost quite a few bees- older foragers no doubt- they returned to the place I caught them and never made it back to the hive. I think that's going to happen to some old bees in any case no matter how far you move them. I left a box at the old site and collected some bees a few time, but I have a feeling after I dumped them in the new hive they just took off again. I think the older foragers are just too set in their ways. The hive did fine. I can't say they were set back significantly by the move even for losing a cup or so of bees.

Probably the safest way to move a hive 2-3 blocks (or anything less than a couple of miles) is to move them a goodly distance (more than 3 miles from the ultimate destination too!!!) for a week or so, then move them to the final location BUT... consider that moving hives is hard on them, no matter what you do you're going to lose some bees each time you move them, and moving them twice.. I dunno. I think you might be just as well off moving them once, put a branch in front of the entrance to help trigger reorientation, and get it over with. Let them get on with their short little lives with as little disruption as possible. You could try leaving a box at the old hive site and collecting bees a few times, it would be the earnest thing to do and it might save a few bees though it might not be worth the effort. If the hive has sufficient bees and a good queen, they'll make up for the lost bees in no time.

So, I don't know if I answered your question or not. Other's will comment.

[hummingberd]

George or Michael-

What do you mean put a stick in front of the hive? You mean, plant one in the ground like a flag pole? How does this help?

Thanks...

-K-

[sierrabees]

The flagpole comparison was funny, but not far from the truth. The idea is to put something there that will get the bees attention when they first leave the hive so they can recognize it when they get back. My breeding yard has a small forest of different geometric figures painted different colors spread all over so the queens can find the right hive to come back to. For a single hive, a branch laying within a few inches is usually the easiest to find but I have used old bricks, large rocks, once even an old tire to provide a landmark for the bees.

[Troy]

I haven't had occasion to move them short distances, but am going to do it next week.

Two things I have read about doing this. 1) is the branch idea discussed previously. The idea here is to provide something in their way as they exit the hive so they have to stop and take notice of the change. A big bushy branch that they have to either fly thru the leaves or to fly around it would do the job. You have to get their attention on exiting the hive.

2) I have read that other things about the move that also get them to take notice are the rumbling of the drive and thumping on the hive body. If you drum on the box for a few minutes to get them to wonder just WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON OUT THERE. Then in the AM once they can fly they'll go out and look. Then they'll notice their new surroundings and all is well. Now I wouldn't go crazy banging on it. Just a thump like a golf ball from 1 foot dropped on the lid every 15 seconds for 10 mins should be fine. I will then give them another 10 mins to calm down before removing the entrance screen, as they are likely to be ticked off.

[peggjam]

One other thing that hasn't been discussed here is that you can move them in cold weather when they can't fly for three or four days without doing anything.:) . They have to reorininate on the hive after a few days of no fly weather regardless of where the hive is:) .

[Michael Bush]

If the weather is cool and you can feed them and confine them, confining for 72 hours will reorient them.

[Sr. Tanya]

Since I live in a situation where I can't move the hives more than a few feet, I've found that putting some straw in front of the entrance did the trick. The hives were fine. I may have lost a few bees but nothing significant.

I've done this with swarms from the next door hive to splits. I'm using the "splits" term to mean after adding a deep to a regular 2 deep and then moving it over after a month or so to the new site a few feet away.

Is there another term for that way of splitting a hive since I think I've seen it used in other ways to increase the hives?

Tanya