Should I move hive with a newly hatched queen?

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New Bee
Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Messages
28
Reaction score
19
Location
Leamington Spa
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
2
Hi all,
I keep my 4 hives in a private rural garden 5 miles awasy from my home. A couple of weeks ago the homeowner informed me that he was re-organising his garden and the hives would have to be moved about 10- 15 metres to the side of the garden. He didn't realise I couldn't just move them. So I have been taking the hives to my garden and then returning them when the new site was ready. " of the hives have been taken back. Currently only one of my colonies definitely has a Q. I checked through the 2 hives currently in my garden yesterday (Sunday) to find a Q emerging from the last remaining Q cell I had put in. I was planning to return this hive to their new site in the out apiary garden either tomorrow night or Wednesday morning. I am unsure about how the Q will find the drone congregation areas from my garden and wonder if she will have a better chance in the out apiary with more familiar surroundings or whether I should leave this colony in my garden until she has completed her mating flights. An added issue is that I have a large family of sparrows who live in and around my garden and they eat my bees. They are particularly attracted to the hives when they see any hustle and bustle such as Q mating flights. Apologies if this question seems stupid but I just want to give this Q the best chance of successful matings.
I await your wisdom!
 
If any - ANY- of your unmated d Qs have gone on orientation flights in preparation for mating - and you move her hive - she may well go out mating and return to her original position. Bang, she is lost.

As you appear to have more than one Q in that position - and you may not know which - moving in the next 2 weeks (?) is likely to men loss of one or more queens.

I would wait,
 
I would wait and buy cheap grain and feed the sparrows.
 
Our sparrows have struck up a mutual arrangement with the undertaker bees.. It's called "bring us some food or we'll eat you"
Our undertaker bees drop their burden on our patio. We've got a magpie that comes along and disposes of the corpses.
 
I think we have a mouse or a shrew that takes the dead bees behind the hives for a munch and leaves a little pile of bee bits.

Ahh - that's interesting - I found a pile of bee bits in the apiary, under some foliage, recently and wondered what had happened. Makes sense.
 

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