new apiary site

[fullframe45]

The current site for my apiary is soon to be in close proximaty to a lot of building activity .
It is on a small enclosed farm and the farmer who is a friend has told me that he plans to start concreteing a large area and farm acess road withing a couple of meters of where my hives are and putting in drainage pipes.There will be some heavy machinery working.
Also a couple of meters on the otherside there is a big old hawthorn hedge that shields and helps cut down the noise from a busy main road ,Again about two meters away. This is also being laid later in the year. The site is close to home and i get on well with all concerned and i can drive right up to it. This seems to me to be a lot of disruption for the bees.
I have found another location about a mile away from this site and it is very quiet and down a small acess road into fields and away from traffic and public etc. I think this would be preferable to set up my hives. I dont know what terms the farmer has yet. Im hoping this will be permanent as i have had to move sites three times in the last 18 mths due to no fault of my own.
Lastly If i move would this affect any mating flights that are due in a cpl of weeks time .Anything else i should know about moving.Sorry for long post. Thanks.
Also i understand about the Two to Three Mile distance.

 

[pargyle]

With that much activity almost next to your apiary I would be more concerned about the potential disruption to the work as a result of your bees rather than the converse. Bees do sometimes react badly to vibrations and machinery noise - I would move them.

A mile is a bit close -three feet or three miles is the recommended 'norm' although depending on where and what the forage is and what is in between the old site and the new site you might get away with it. There's a few tricks such as putting a few branches across the entrance to the hive that seems to make them re-orientate on the new location. Either way I would move them after dark and leave an empty box on the original site so that any stray fliers that inadvertently return to the original site have somewhere to go ... you can collect the boxes and shake them out at your new site.

Mating flights will happen wherever the colony is site (if you have virgin queens - what makes you think there will be mating flights ? Queens only mate once in their lives). The virgin queen will orientate on the location she is in and then head off to a DCA and return, hopefully, to her colony.

 

[fullframe45]

Thanks for quick reply,Good advice To be honest i never thought about the danger to the workmen (good point ) the distance would propably in region of one and half miles as crow flies and mostly open fields with a wood in the path. My last move to present site was propably about the same distance and as you sugested i put branches in front of hive and all seemed well.It maybee is a bit too close but not a lot of good places to site round here without travelling too far.

 

[pargyle]

The worst that will happen is that some of your fliers may go back to the original site and as long as you leave something there - even just a cardboard box containing a piece of comb or a frame without brood - they will be in there the following night and you can collect them and put them back in the new site.

 

[fullframe45]

Thanks again,yes i dont think i really have much of a choice but to go for it.Given the weather is suposed to be a bit cooler next week i can close up at night with vent travel screen and move early am .If i do that should i leave them allday confined and let them out late evening ,or let them out once moved (with branches etc ) and as you sugest leave something for them if they return.