Bee traffic after AS

[beenovice]

I asked this question in a separate thread but it got buried. A day after an AS I sat and watched the bees coming and going. Surprisingly the majority of the bee traffic(say 80%) were going to the new location where the queen cells and brood were. I would have thought the majority of the flyers would have returned to the original site where the queen is. Is this normal? Hives are about 1m apart

 

[Cazza]

Having watched two As'd hives this week, yours are different to mine. The majority have flown to the original site with the old queen.

(Not being patronising) but:
Did you turn the entrance to the moved hives by 90 degrees away from the original hive and flight path? (I'm sure you did but it's the only thing I can think of.)
Sometimes, after a day when the new bees begin to fly it looks busy for a little while as they orientate themselves. Could be that?
Cazza

 

[rolande]

A day after an AS I sat and watched the bees coming and going. Surprisingly the majority of the bee traffic(say 80%) were going to the new location where the queen cells and brood were. I would have thought the majority of the flyers would have returned to the original site where the queen is. Is this normal? Hives are about 1m apart

Has the population at the old site dropped in relation to the 'traffic' you see at the new site?

 

[beenovice]

Having watched two As'd hives this week, yours are different to mine. The majority have flown to the original site with the old queen.

(Not being patronising) but:
Did you turn the entrance to the moved hives by 90 degrees away from the original hive and flight path? (I'm sure you did but it's the only thing I can think of.)
Sometimes, after a day when the new bees begin to fly it looks busy for a little while as they orientate themselves. Could be that?
Cazza

Hi cazza, no I haven't turned anything around by 90 degrees. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere before. The instructions I had was to move to the side by about a metre, which I have done.
What now?

 

[beenovice]

Has the population at the old site dropped in relation to the 'traffic' you see at the new site?

Maybe it has, in relation to the original split, but I would have expected the population to be bolstered by the flying bees the following day.

 

[Davelin]

Hi cazza, no I haven't turned anything around by 90 degrees. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere before. The instructions I had was to move to the side by about a metre, which I have done.
What now?

Some advocate this, but it is not essential; just moving the original brood box 1m to the side works fine.

 

[rolande]

Maybe it has, in relation to the original split, but I would have expected the population to be bolstered by the flying bees the following day.

so you're not seeing an example of so called silent robbing, at least that's one thing less to worry about.

 

[Finman]

.
Reason is too short distance. When bees notice an old scent of queen and hive, they move easily 1 m to the better hive. I have seen it several times. 3 m is safe distance. 2 m behind is safe too.
I move hives' entrance to same direction that it is easy to join hives later.

 

[boywonder]

I had a look at the widely used Heddon method (where the old hive is kept within 1m, and then sides are swapped etc...) - but thought this too much faff, just manipulate the numbers of flying bees in the new hive (and try and maximise crop).

So, I took the advice of Roger Patterson to keep it simple, and just move this to 'another' location in the apiary (distance immaterial). As it happens, this is about 3m away, and the hive entrance is orientated at 90 deg to the hive on the original site.

Seems to be working out very well, and there has been no doubt where all the flying bees returned to. Inspected both yesterday, and all is as it should be. Simple (?) ...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[beenovice]

Checked again today. Traffic much more inline with what I would have expected. Both hives busy in the sunshine.

 

[Finman]

Checked again today. Traffic much more inline with what I would have expected. Both hives busy in the sunshine.

Actually the brood hive should be quite silent because old bees move all to the swarm hive/old site.
So....those bees who are in the brood hive, they have still swarming fever, and that is the point.
Artificial swarm makes bees to feel that they have swarmed and have drawn new combs.

Second step is cut brood hive's fever.

You may do AS again and move swarm hive 0,5 m closer to brood hive.

 

[Cazza]

Hi cazza, no I haven't turned anything around by 90 degrees. I haven't seen that mentioned anywhere before. The instructions I had was to move to the side by about a metre, which I have done.
What now?

Look up "Pagden" method. If you turn 90 degrees, the flying bees are less likely to find the entrance and will be more likely to return to the original hive.
Cazza