Moving a Topbar hive in the heat....

[Anny]

I need some advise. I have a top bar hive that I need to move from one location to another (a few miles away)
I have a pick up truck to move it. Online I saw youtube videos that suggested you move it at night time, so that most the bees are in the hive. They also say to tape the openings.

I was all ready to move the hive on a nice 80 degree night...but a bunch of the bees where bearding on the outside of the hive.

How do I do it if they are bearing. Do I have to wait tell it get cooler? Is there a way to make the bees think it's colder and that they should go inside (a friend suggested placing dry ice under the hive)

And advice or tips or suggested would be very helpful. I have never had to move a hive before and I am very nervous. Thank you.

[RAFAEL/PR]

you could smoke them a little so the could go back in , also you should set a noc or box in case some are left behind where you had you hive at , in there new location put a couple of branches in front of there hole so they could reorient them self to there new surounding

[JYawn]

you could smoke them a little so the could go back in , also you should set a noc or box in case some are left behind where you had you hive at , in there new location put a couple of branches in front of there hole so they could reorient them self to there new surounding

Smoke was going to be one of my suggestions as well. Another possibility is to maybe place a fan lightly blowing toward the entrance to cool them off while they are trying to beard.... not sure if the fan idea is a possibility if the hive isn't close to an electrical source.

[RAFAEL/PR]

fan is not a good idea , ever hear if the **** hit the fan ?? , the bee will go in inside the blade and you know the what will happen next unless you put some type of screen over the fan so no bee will come close to the blade , you could try to put a couple of ice cube inside the hive that might work , bee love to drink water so don't worry about the ice melting on the inside of the hive, good luck

[rtoney]

If you had some tent screening you could put them in the bed of the truck and cover the hive with the netting It should be fine enough that they would not go through it. I think most would stay on the hive anyways.

[Keth Comollo]

I would wait till it was cooler out. One good pothole at 80 degrees is possibly going to knock all your honey combs to the bottom.

[Tracer]

I moved mine last night, but only about 30 yards. They were bearding a little at 9:30pm, but I was able to coax them into the hive by gently plugging the entrances with grass.

The branch idea in front of the entrance for the next day is a good idea. It did cause the first bees out this morning to do reorienting flights. But a word of caution: Ants had made a little trail up to the hive overnight, so be sure to put some kind of barrier like vasoline/grease around the base of the branch just above where it touches the ground.

[SantaFeBeek]

One of my TBHs was bearding heavily lately with all the heat, so I pushed the back end top bar so that it left a rear entrance and provided some airflow through the hive. The bearding stopped the next day. So, you might try some ventilation to stop or reduce the bearding before moving.

Good luck, and as was stated above, look out for potholes along the way!

[Keefis]

Anny,
When I got my hive from my mentor he wrapped the whole thing in a bedsheet and tied it up. He brought it to me at night of course, and he put some grass in the entrances to make the bees slow down and take notice to where they were the next morning when they went out to forage.
If you haven't moved it yet, maybe you could give the hive some shade a day or two prior to the move to help lower the hive temp.