Having to move bees before April.

[pargyle]

I wrote a query on this very topic 5 days earlier, and got good replies - I am tempted to say to the original poster here why didn't he look or do a search !

One thing that would be interesting to hear is how people move hives in these circumstances as they are heavy and pretty unobliging bits of kit!! I see reference to having them on a pallet, but in reality not that many of us are taking bees to farms, etc. nor have a pallet lifter.

I was fortunate as it is really fairly obvious that the colder the day the better. So for me this past Friday was to be 5C max. I had 2 hives to move 20m using a sack barrow - part on a concrete path, part over roughish ground. So to make the rough ground workable I put down on the previous day two long lengths of timber. Friday morning everything looked good, and then I found the unanticipated bonus that I got was that the cold snap brought a good covering of frost over the path I'd laid and sliding the loaded sack barrow over the icey timbers made the task a single person dawdle.

The key to moving hives is to have them firmly strapped together with hive straps at right angles to each other .. entrance sealed with a length of foam rubber (and I add a piece of duct tape or aluminium tape as well for good measure) - a heavy hive really needs a lot of personal strength or ideally two people to lift. If there are two of you a piece of timber under the straps across the roof wil allow a person either side to lift it and even carry it. Ventilation if there is a mesh floor is not an issue most of the time but in hot weather they do need some form of ventilation if they are going to be shut in for any length of time. If they are being moved in a vehicle some net curtain over the hives provides some secondary reassurance you are not going to be buzzed by any that manage to escape.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If they are being moved in a vehicle some net curtain over the hives provides some secondary reassurance you are not going to be buzzed by any that manage to escape.

If the bees have been flying check under the omf

 

[Antipodes]

I wrote a query on this very topic 5 days earlier, and got good replies - I am tempted to say to the original poster here why didn't he look or do a search !

One thing that would be interesting to hear is how people move hives in these circumstances as they are heavy and pretty unobliging bits of kit!! I see reference to having them on a pallet, but in reality not that many of us are taking bees to farms, etc. nor have a pallet lifter.

I was fortunate as it is really fairly obvious that the colder the day the better. So for me this past Friday was to be 5C max. I had 2 hives to move 20m using a sack barrow - part on a concrete path, part over roughish ground. So to make the rough ground workable I put down on the previous day two long lengths of timber. Friday morning everything looked good, and then I found the unanticipated bonus that I got was that the cold snap brought a good covering of frost over the path I'd laid and sliding the loaded sack barrow over the icey timbers made the task a single person dawdle.

You're on the right track there. I move hives regularly on and off pallets (and onto vehicle), with a sack trolley....decent wheels on it of course. I don't lift them as such, as tilting the trolley backwards does that. I can move them by myself but I've got things set up to do this.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The key to moving hives is to have them firmly strapped together with hive straps at right angles to each other

I find it much more secure to have them parallel

 

[pargyle]

I find it much more secure to have them parallel

Two parallell front to back and one at right angles side to side ....belt, braces and a piece of string ... you only ever DON'T secure a hive properly once when you are moving it ... I tripped and dropped one once (it was a swarm I had collected)- not an experience I care to repeat ! Great learning curve ...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I've found that two in parallel (whether side to side or front to back) is more than secure. I've had a hive secured like that fall off a sack truck and roll down a slope for a couple of turns and never budged, - I think being in parallel stops the hive parts from twisting on an axis thus allowing bees to escape.