I have three hives that I need to move about 100 feet. I've read Michael Bush's comments on doing so (basically just move them and obstruct the entrance so they re-orient), but I'm wondering if I can finesse it a bit, though this may be overthinking things...
The three hives are very different and are all next to each other:
- Two are from a spliit made two weeks ago. The queenright one has a relatively low population in two deeps and is quite calm. The queenless one (currently with queen cells) is booming in two deeps and two mediums and is HOT HOT HOT.
- The third is a split made about 6 weeks ago in a single deep.
I could just move them all at once and let the bees figure it out. I was thinking that instead I could move the big hot hive and one of the others and leave the one of the smaller hives in the original location of the big hot hive. This way any returning foragers would go to that hive, boosting it's population. The downside of this is that it would create a dis-incentive for the foragers to locate where the new location of their hive is, and would also still mean I have to move the last hive and potentiall lose some foragers.
Thoughts? The more I think about it the more it seems as though just doing it all at once is the way to go.
The three hives are very different and are all next to each other:
- Two are from a spliit made two weeks ago. The queenright one has a relatively low population in two deeps and is quite calm. The queenless one (currently with queen cells) is booming in two deeps and two mediums and is HOT HOT HOT.
- The third is a split made about 6 weeks ago in a single deep.
I could just move them all at once and let the bees figure it out. I was thinking that instead I could move the big hot hive and one of the others and leave the one of the smaller hives in the original location of the big hot hive. This way any returning foragers would go to that hive, boosting it's population. The downside of this is that it would create a dis-incentive for the foragers to locate where the new location of their hive is, and would also still mean I have to move the last hive and potentiall lose some foragers.
Thoughts? The more I think about it the more it seems as though just doing it all at once is the way to go.