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Moving Bees 2 Feet Forward

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3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Mike Gillmore 
#1 ·
I caught 4 swarms last year that are doing well. I had to put them on some temporary hive stands. I'm building some new ones now that will be directly in front of the hive. My question is will I need to get them to "reset" the GPS for such a short distance? I have heard of the limbs in front method for short moves but not this short.
 
#2 ·
If your hives are spaced out a little bit they should have no problem re-orienting if you are moving them forward. If they are close together there could be some drifting, but probably not enough to create a problem. Moving 2 feet forward, I'm not sure the branches would even be necessary.
 
#5 ·
it will be no problem, move them all at once keep them orientated the same direction and spaced about the same distance apart. Don't add boxes and change the height during this transition. Remove old stands immediatly. Most wont even notice, some might circle once or twice before they figure it out.
 
#6 ·
I did a cool short-term experiment with students to show confusion bees had when hives where moved back just two feet for an hour during the day. They hovered about original location for a good while before landing on the nearest structure (hedge row). Hedge was was complicating factor.
 
#7 ·
Congratulations on catching 4 swarms. I caught 2 swarms.

What I do a couple days before I move a hive is provide a landmark which I tape to the hive. Using an empty plastic milk jug I cut 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices (fingers) so that it looks like a field of straws. I bend every other straw to provide the bees some space to get through into or out of the hive, and tape this above the hive so that the fingers dangle down a few inches away from, but even with the entrance. This obstacle provides a visual landmark for the foragers returning to the hive. You might use this on either the middle 2 or 3 hives; On all but one of the hives, I mark the fingers with a colored marker (yellow, green or blue) so the bees can discern one from the other. Tape these to the hives about 3 days before you move them, and leave them on 2 or 3 days after you move them.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
We mover our bees all the time 4 feet in one direction and we haven't had a problem. MOSTLY backwards and forward is better then side to side for sure if you have more then one hive in a row. If you move side to side they will most likely go into the wrong hive.
ALSO never tried this myself but different color fronts have been said to help bees no what hives are theirs.???
Best of luck
 
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