Moving Hives

[Beedogg]

I need to move my hives a short distance (400m). I'm aware of the 'not more than 3m; not less than 3 miles' mantra. So in practice how does one move hives as I need to?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

move them away more than three miles, leave them there for a month or two then move them back

 

[Erichalfbee]

 

[Beedogg]

OK....

And if that isn't possible/practical/easy what are the downsides if I just move them the 400m? Presumably the flying bees will tend to return to the old site. When they find that there are no hives there, what will they do?

 

[Erichalfbee]

They will fly around there for days getting aggressive before they finally perish. At thus time of year you will lose lots of bees. I suppose you could move them and stuff the entrance with grass so they have to fight their way out. That might work.
If you’re going to do that leave a drawn super at the old site and at night keep putting it on top of the hive you’ve moved till you have no bees returning?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

move them away more than three miles, leave them there for a month or two then move them back

does it need to be a month or two....i thought a week or two is sufficient to reset the compass

 

[W0otz]

Hijacking thread, but on topic, how strict is the 3ft/3mile rule? I'll potentially be looking to move a colony 2.68 miles in the not too distant future and would rather not have an intermediate step. I'm guessing it'll be ok but would prefer some more experienced opinions.

 

[Beedogg]

They will fly around there for days getting aggressive before they finally perish. At thus time of year you will lose lots of bees. I suppose you could move them and stuff the entrance with grass so they have to fight their way out. That might work.
If you’re going to do that leave a drawn super at the old site and at night keep putting it on top of the hive you’ve moved till you have no bees returning?

So, might a plan be to move just one hive at a time, leaving a week or so between hives? I presume that the flying bees from the first hive will return to the old Apiary site and, finding the hive not there, beg their way into one of the other hives that are still there? That would reduce the bee-loss for at least the first couple of hives. What if that process was reinforced by moving one of the remaining hives onto the plinth left by the moved hive (1-2m)?

If so, then I guess the challenge is the last hive to move. Could one use a nuc at the site of the last hive to leave, with some undrawn comb and stores in it to sustain the returning bees? If so, with they eventually just die off or will then find their own parent hive eventually?

In the moved hives, if they are denuded of flying bees for a while then presumably they will need feeding and/or must have enough stores to sustain them whilst new foragers get up and running? That would be a couple of weeks?

Sorry if this sounds like a series of silly questions. This is an issue only because I currently have three hives in a paddock in the shelter (eastern side) of a 8' wall, on the other side of which is our garden. My wife is starting to get annoyed at being stung while working in the garden, and I'm coming under pressure to "put your damn bees somewhere else..." I do have the option to move them more or less any distance up to 400m away, but not further without difficulty.

So all advice gratefully received.

 

[JamezF]

I had to move a colony a little less than 100m during the summer a couple of years back because they were getting a bit antsy with our builder who is seriously allergic to bee stings. I moved it one evening and propped a load of leafy twigs in front of the entrance (I've been told that can help to make them re-orientate and there didn't seem to be much to lose by trying it), leaving another box in its place. I had some flying bees go back to the old site, so in the evening I shook them back into the moved hive. Over a few days the numbers returning gradually diminished.

It's not ideal and perhaps stuffing grass in the entrance might help in combination with everything else, but it seemed to do the job in a pinch.

James

 

[Beedogg]

Thank you James. That's encouraging. I've just done a recce on a potential new site at the end of the paddocks and when I got back I found my wife gardening in her bee-suit because she'd been stung yet again . So I think that I'm just going to have to move them and accept whatever negative impact that has on the colonies. They are in WBCs so lord knows how I'm going to manage the physical move... I'm guessing lift the entire hive(s) into the back of a landrover and drive VERY slowly.

When you say 'leaving another box in its place' do you mean a nuc and if so, what did it have in it?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

does it need to be a month or two....i thought a week or two is sufficient to reset the compass

they need to lose the 'hive memory' so ideally you want the flying bees to die off, a month is safe, a bit longer is better, and if you have an alternative site, why hurry moving them back?

 

[JamezF]

When you say 'leaving another box in its place' do you mean a nuc and if so, what did it have in it?

I used a brood box with some scabby old comb in because it was what I had.

James

 

[JamezF]

It does seem odd to me that the bees are stinging your wife so often when she's just out in the garden and there's a reasonably high wall between them and her. That either seems unnecessarily aggressive or there's surely got to be something else that is provoking them. I will quite happily stand within a few feet of my hives without a bee suit (having made sure I'm not in their line of flight) and they completely ignore me. Only this afternoon I carried a load of kit from my car right up to some hives before actually lighting my smoker and putting on my bee suit to actually open up the hives.

James

 

[enrico]

I used a brood box with some scabby old comb in because it was what I had.

James

The trouble is you will get a box full of flying bees with no queen. Then you have to do something with that box.....
If the bees need to be moved then move them, turn it so the entrance points in the opposite direction. Do everything you can to confuse them. A six foot netting screen a couple of feet away from the entrance. Use a tunnel entrance so that they have to crawl out through it etc etc. You will still end up with bees at the old site so move everything bee related from the old site. Cut the grass make it look as different as possible. Go for it and keep your fingers crossed!

 

[JamezF]

The trouble is you will get a box full of flying bees with no queen. Then you have to do something with that box.....

I did, but each evening I closed up the box and took it to the moved hive, shook them back in and took the box back to the original location. Each day there seemed to be fewer in the old location, though presumably that will at least partly have been because the older ones were dying on the job.

I really didn't have much choice though. They had to be moved away from where the builder was working (he found something else to do for a couple of days whilst I got it sorted).

James

 

[bingevader]

We've used the magic sticks method several times with good success, as few as 20-30 bees at the original site.
If you can shut them in for 24hrs too, that will help.

 

[andrew_r]

Last summer I moved my bees about 1 mile, if not less. I shut them up the evening before and then moved them the following morning. Less than 10 bees returned to the old site, but this was September so maybe there were fewer flying bees then. Andrew

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hijacking thread, but on topic, how strict is the 3ft/3mile rule? I'll potentially be looking to move a colony 2.68 miles in the not too distant future and would rather not have an intermediate step. I'm guessing it'll be ok but would prefer some more experienced opinions.

Not that strict (what's that saying about rules being a guide for the wise and the obesiance of......) 2.6 miles is usually enough (I moved a hive just over a mile last weekend, not one bee came back) a lot depends on the terrain and forage between point A and point B just needs a bit of thought.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

It does seem odd to me that the bees are stinging your wife so often when she's just out in the garden and there's a reasonably high wall between them and her. That either seems unnecessarily aggressive or there's surely got to be something else that is provoking them. I will quite happily stand within a few feet of my hives without a bee suit (having made sure I'm not in their line of flight) and they completely ignore me. Only this afternoon I carried a load of kit from my car right up to some hives before actually lighting my smoker and putting on my bee suit to actually open up the hives.

James

Is the lady wearing a perfume the bees are taking exception to?

 

[JamezF]

Is the lady wearing a perfume the bees are taking exception to?

That thought had crossed my mind.

James