Long distance move

[StevieD]

Hi everyone, just a quick question/advice seeking, next year i will be moving from the east midlands to the south of Scotland, a trip of around 360 miles.
I currently have 3 hives with british black bees.
My question is about if they would survive a move of that distance, or wether it would be best to sell the hives and start again when i am there,
Any advice would be welcome.
Even wondered about getting 3 correx nuc boxes that they send 6 frames of bees in through the post and putting the queen and 6 from each hive in to transport in my car

 

[ericbeaumont]

next year

What time of year will you be driving?

 

[Antipodes]

Hi everyone, just a quick question/advice seeking, next year i will be moving from the east midlands to the south of Scotland, a trip of around 360 miles.
I currently have 3 hives with british black bees.
My question is about if they would survive a move of that distance, or wether it would be best to sell the hives and start again when i am there,
Any advice would be welcome.
Even wondered about getting 3 correx nuc boxes that they send 6 frames of bees in through the post and putting the queen and 6 from each hive in to transport in my car

Commercial beekeepers do a lot of hive moves in Australia. For instance, Queensland to Victoria is nearly 1000 miles, and they would do more from apiary to farm.... according to this article, it might take two or three nights. 360 miles should be achievable.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-05/migratory-bee-queensland-pollination/100802926

 

[StevieD]

Not sure yet but i think more likely to be in the second half of the year

 

[drex]

In March I drove 350 miles, when moving home, with 3 colonies. I had consolidated down from double BB to single. Open mesh floor, foam in entrance, 2 straps and travel screen. Only stopped twice to give a water spray through the screen. Had gaffer tape with me, but was not needed.
Bees perfectly happy when opened up on arrival in new home. Sold rest of my colonies at cheap prices to association members

 

[StevieD]

In March I drove 350 miles, when moving home, with 3 colonies. I had consolidated down from double BB to single. Open mesh floor, foam in entrance, 2 straps and travel screen. Only stopped twice to give a water spray through the screen. Had gaffer tape with me, but was not needed.
Bees perfectly happy when opened up on arrival in new home. Sold rest of my colonies at cheap prices to association members

 

[StevieD]

Ok , thakyou for that , good to know.
Did you take them in a car. I have a estate car, was thinking about sealing up the boot section with poly incase any got out

 

[enrico]

No problem at all but.......wear a suit. If some ***** runs into you you do not want to be stuck in your car with a load of angry bees. Don't put the veil on but have it handy.
Travel screen and water spray every hour or so. Why should any get out? Use proper travel screens and ratchet straps across both sides

 

[drex]

I did not wear a suit for the 6 hour drive. I did have a jacket on passenger seat. Have always found escapees just hover on the windows. Never been stung in car yet

 

[Erichalfbee]

Drove 5 hour journey in a September frim Cumbria to Wales. Omf raised up and travel screen on top. Two straps parallel. No problem. Hives even spent the night before the trip in the back of the car. Suit on but veil down.

 

[StevieD]

Thankyou to everyone, great help and advice.
If you look in books about moving hives, its usually about moving a few yards

 

[Sutty]

Thankyou to everyone, great help and advice.
If you look in books about moving hives, its usually about moving a few yards

I've zero experience in this, but one thing I remember reading is not to examine in the few days prior to the move so that frames remain propolised into position and are less likely to move in transit.
I also seem to remember they suggested transporting so that the frames are along the axis of the vehicle in case of sharp braking.

 

[ericbeaumont]

incase any got out

Years ago I collected a swarm late in the day (cardboard box, sheet) and left it in the back of my Volvo estate.

Woke up in the morning to see brown curtains on the car windows: they'd crawled out of the box and found an extracted super. Got in, ignored the bees, drove 35 minutes to the apiary, hived them and went for breakfast.

Not one bee was interested in me; as Drex said, they just mooch about on the windows.

I'd had prior experience of bees in vehicles (nothing happened) which was why I wasn't bothered, and no, I didn't wear a suit (though I can see Enrico's logic).

 

[Sutty]

I collected a swarm in a cardboard box from a garden centre some years ago. I needed to move the box pretty quickly after collection so there were still several hundred bees on the outside of the box when I put it in my car. A couple of dozen were bouncing off the windscreen on my way home, they took no notice of me.

 

[Antipodes]

Ok , thakyou for that , good to know.
Did you take them in a car. I have a estate car, was thinking about sealing up the boot section with poly incase any got out

We seem to always be moving bees here, chasing the rain and pollination. One thing I have to say is that bees will generate an incredible amount of heat when being moved as they get excited and alarmed, but as colony size varies, success and total heat generated can depend on the size of the colony. I've moved small colonies with a solid lid and just a screened entrance, but bees will die if it gets too hot for them in the hive and they can't get themselves out of it. I moved one last week with probably 100 000 bees in it. Open entrance and at night with a solid floor and fly screen mesh on the top box. The whole thing totally black with crawlers within seconds of being touched, but it went well. I wouldn't have attempted to move that monster unless then entrance was open.

If moving moderate sized colonies inside a vehicle, in addition to a travel screen, keep the air conditioning on or windows blowing cool air through the car. One thing for sure is that they will not get too cold. As bees don't propolise the floor to the lowest box, that is an area of a potential problem. Here we use a metal strap called an emlock that can bind incredibly tightly. If you can screw the floor to the box, that is a good idea. Use two straps. Another area of concern is the entrance. Make sure that is very well sealed.

 

[Antipodes]

Have always found escapees just hover on the windows

Of a day they will but they tend not to at night Drex, preferring to crawl around inside the vehicle and anything in it instead.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Same hear, after I managed to deposit a bucket of honey in the back of my van which even after mopping up managed to ooze out of every seam for the next couple of months.
Every time I visited an apiary the van would fill with bees and I would have to drive home with a couple of dozen bees buzzing around while I waved them out of the open windows which became more opaque with bee poo every day.
I could cope with bees but later in the year I found that wasps would find their way into the van over night and for the first couple of miles in the morning I was batting them out of the windows as they emerged from the vents and around the windscreen.
They were no fun!

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

We regularly travel from Shropshire to Essex/Kent, usually around seventy at a time.
We don't change anything, all solid floors with roofs on. Lock them in at dusk and travel through the night.
We have not bothered with screens up to now, and have been lucky I suppose with breakdowns, last year the vehicle battery failed, but always have a hire vehicle with the guarantee that should the worst happen we will be transported back home or to the destination so we can offload the colonies. The AA chap fitted a new battery pretty quickly as he was getting buzzed

 

[rolande]

If fitting a travel screen it's a good plan to have a deep one, some I've seen being sold almost sit on the topbars, I think it's nice for them to have a bit of expansion space under the screen and doesn't cost anymore.

 

[Garry R]

I have a big roll of garden plant fleece . When moving short distance I have an open mesh floor and wrap the whole hive in a sheet. Make sure the floor, broodbox and travel screen are firmly held together with a ratchet strap, Don't put a roof on For a longer journey I think the fleece would let the hive breathe well and keep the bees cool with the hive sitting on it then bunched up on the top and tied with that soft rubber covered garden wire. You could spray water through the fleece. Whatever you cover the hive with , keep it thin. This is of course for inside the car and preventing escapes. Or use a trailer.............