[fngrpepr]

When I set up my hive in May, I placed it on a large landscaping rock (maybe a foot high) which I thought would be an ideal spot. Now that I've got a hive body, a super, a top feeder and a pollen trap, the hive is starting to get kind of high and I haven't even started putting on honey supers.

I'm thinking of moving the hive to a different spot which is about 30 yards away. This would give me the luxury of setting up a nice and level hive stand.

Will moving this distance cause problems for the hive?

 

[mike haney]

place a leafy branch (i like fir or cedar) in front of the entrance so they HAVE to go through it to get out, OR, stuff grass in the entrance so they have to crawl through it to get out. this causes them to "reorient" themselves (picture looking around and saying "WTH?"). some have no luck at this and swear it dosent work, but i suspect they are not restricting them enough- its never failed for me.
good luck,mike

 

[DutchBee]

I put a ventilated entrance reducer with a one inch entrance and they seem to do ok with a move. after a few days if they are strong I pull the reducer.

 

[sqkcrk]

3 ft or 3 miles. Others have techniques for moving it across the yard all at once. But that is the "rule" that I go by, except when I don't.

 

[David LaFerney]

If you use one of the methods to get them to reorient they still might try to go back to the old location, but if there isn't a hive there they will mostly end up where they belong. If you have more than one hive you may get a little bit of drift, but if there are no other hives close by they are going to get back home as long as they reorient when they initially leave the new location.

I did this just a few days ago, and I put an unused empty hive setup in the old location in case some confused bees failed to make the move - so they wouldn't die of exposure. They crawled all over it and in and out for a couple of hours, and buzzed around it a bit for a couple of days, but they all (as far as I can tell) ended up in the new location - about 30 feet away. I guess a few might have drifted to another hive, but not enough to tell.

You can cause them to return to the wrong hive (right next door) just by flipping over an entrance reducer to put the entrance on the other end from where they are used to. This can actually be handy if you need to strengthen a weak hive with field bees from the hive next door.

 

[fngrpepr]

Thanks for the advice. I only have 1 hive so don't have to be concerned about 'drift', just about the girls finding their new location. Once I build the new hive stand I'll try this out.

 

[Michael Bush]

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

I've moved bees a hundred yards or so many times. If you use the branch or some other trigger to get them to reorient they will sort it out in about 24 to 48 hours. If you don't some don't seem to figure it out for several days, but eventually they will.

 

[fngrpepr]

Thanks for all the advice. Here's a followup question on moving the hive--- am I best off strapping it up, blocking the entrance and moving it all at one shot, or can I get away with walking it over to the new location one super at a time when I do my next inspection?

 

[mike haney]

"...am I best off strapping it up, blocking the entrance and moving it all at one shot..."
thats the way i do'em. my guess is you'ld have a lot of flying "stragglers" if you broke it down, but thats a guess- i strap em up.
good luck,mike