moving a hive next door?

[JamesM]

A friend of mine wants to start beekeeping and a neighbour of his has offered a colony. There are obvious problems with just moving the hive from one garden to a neighbouring one, so I suggested I house the bees for a while (I live about 10 miles away) and then move them back after a complete generation has passed.

Does that sound right to you? And how long should I wait - 6 weeks? Or would 4 be enough? Or less? Or more?

Or would the two moves in one season be too stressful?

Thanks for any thoughts ...

James

 

[VEG]

The longer the better really but 3 to 4 weeks can work ok.

 

[nonstandard]

My neighbour had his hive in my garden last year because he had a family wedding and felt that the bees would not mix too well with a tent full of drunken guests, myself included, and a great day it was too.

Anyway after overwintering at my house the bees needed to move home, he moved them out to his daughters a good 10 miles away for three weeks and moved them back yesterday. I can assure you that this has worked fine, it has been a good sunny day here and there were no lost bees wandering around the old site even though his bees were working hard from the new site

 

[oliver90owner]

Most reliable books I have seen seem to indicate two weeks. Foragers, in the main season, are not going to last more than 3 or 4 weeks at the best.

Regards, RAB

 

[Skyhook]

Most reliable books I have seen seem to indicate two weeks. Foragers, in the main season, are not going to last more than 3 or 4 weeks at the best.

Regards, RAB

Worth bearing in mind that, although workers live for around 6 weeks, a good section of that is spent as a house bee.