How to move a five box hive?

[raosmun]

Dumb queation #99! How do I go about moving a five(5) medium established hive?? I wanted to move it about 5 miles a couple of months ago, when the weight was down, but do to the incessent RAIN, the weight and numbers are up! I will need to take the hive apart, move and reassemble. The ground is like a sponge here, so the boxes will have to be hand carriered transported and reassembled from> to.

[jean-marc]

Sounds like you already know how to do it. Keep the order ot the deassembled boxes the same when reassembling. There is no easy or magical way, just plain old grunt work that's all.

Jean-Marc

[Scottyd]

It would prob be more beneficial and a safer bet if you kept it together while moveing it. If there is absolutely no way to keep it together you could use one of those triangle boards to get all the bees out of the top boxes then move them, then move the bottom 2 boxes together with all the bees! Add the triangle board in the after noon and move the bees that night.

[odfrank]

Ratchet straps are helpful for moving tall hives.

[BeeJellis]

If you can, make the move at day break. I staple 1/8 inch screen over the entrance. Then slpit the hive with two hive boxes on the bottom board and staple screening over the top. Staple the joint between the two hive boxes to help them from separating. If the other 3 can be carried together, I would use the lid as a bottom board, staple the joints and screen the top. Do not cover the screening on the top or they will over heat. That worked for me moving a double deep about 30 miles.

[jajtiii]

I move hives a lot (when a Nuc, swarm, cut out or trap out gets big enough to defend itself, I take it to an outyard, sometimes 40 miles away.)

The afternoon before I am moving them, I put a trolley next to the hive and break it apart. I just break the supers apart and do not disturb the frames (the bees keep 'em pretty jammed up and tight with propolis, which reduces/eliminates 'frame swing' during the move - thus reducing bee damage.) I then reassemble them on the trolley.

By nightfall, they are all happily in the hive at the new location (a foot or two away.) I screen up the entrance and use ratchets to secure the hive.

I then just trolley it up onto the trailer, drive to the destination and place it where I want. I come back a week later to do a full inspection to be sure everything went alright.

[jrbbees]

get someone younger than me to help you.

[Michael Bush]

I have a small trailer I use. So I put the trailer right in front of the hive, load it up during the day a box at a time. Strap it all down. After dark (probably a hour before daylight in your case) I duct tape the entrance and drive to where I want it. After light I unload it a box at a time again.

[Grant]

Been there done it...the right way and the wrong way.

Five mediums is not hard to move. Like others have said, screen the entrance at sun up. I'd duct tape all the joints between boxes, maybe even use some staples. Then ratchet the whole mess with two straps (side to side and front to back) then get a rubber tire hand cart to move across the spongy sod. This is easy, but heavy.

I had a buddy who had a situation like this only it was four deeps and they were loaded with nectar and a ton of bees. I showed up at sunrise. I brought with me six extra telescoping lids. We took of the top box and removed the original cover, then set the box in an upside down cover, then put a cover on top. We had one box all set to move. Very heavy, but easily managable.

We did the same for the second and third boxes as we cut down the stack. Each box was very heavy, but everything was contained with the two covers for each box. There was very little disturbance and using a little smoke, all the bees seemed to be contained.

When we got down to the bottom box we simply put the original cover on it, stuffed paper towels in the entrance and we were off. It took us about 2 minutes to load this hive into the back of my truck. No hand carts, no trailers, no extra labor required.

Don't think you have to move the whole stack intact.

Grant
Jackson, MO

[Acebird]

Aren't two of the boxes going to be full of honey? If you got a brood chamber that is 5 boxes deep I think I would do a split. I can't imagine 5 boxes of brood though.

[Beesville]

Just use ratcheting straps and a hand truck. Put one around the hive and some around the hive body and the dolly. Don’t brake it apart. The propels will keep it all together. Use some ramps and a small trailer or truck. If you have to lay it down just keep it attached to the dolly. Attach a hand truck to the back not the side. Its ok the lay it down on its back with the entrance up just not on its side. Don’t want the uncapped honey to run out of the comb. If the frames are vertical it will be ok. I have moved them this way in my jeep. Just put down the seats and role the dolly in wheals first. Move them after dark at night they just fly to the windshield trying to get to the head lights and will leave you alone so don’t panic if they get out. I have had helpers jump out before I could stop when a few bees got lose. Some helpers are not to brave. It wasn’t that bad I could still see out through the bees. So test the braveness of your helpers with a drone. If they run from a drone make them drive there own car.

[raosmun]

Thank you all !!! Some very very good suggestions. From what I gather moving prior to first light and only 5 miles; heat and ventelation should not be a problem. Thanks again.