Best options for moving hives next to eachother

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hello.

Without going into a bit of background story to save you reading, I’m going to cut to the chase!

I have two beehives on opposite sides of the property.

I’m going to call them Flow Hive & Swarm Hive.

Flow Hive, (1 brood deep & 1 super deep) when it was installed was getting harrased by many ants. Sits in an old horse arena so dry, sandy area. Where it sat was near 3 giant ants nests that were hidden by bushes/tall grass.

Went on for some time, lots of bees fighting. Gave them Anti-Ant legs. Problem solved.

Flow Hive sits on cinder blocks.

Swarm Hive (1 deep brood box), is new. Only around 5 frames drawn. They sit on a table on the opposite side of the farm on a table. They do not have any ant protections. Yet they are not being attacked by anything at all.

I asked my beek friend when the Swarm Hive would be ready to be moved next to Flow Hive, and they said anytime now as long as they are pulling in lots of pollen/food etc.

My question is, would it be easier to establish the Swarm Hive where it is, without anti-ant legs, and move the Flow Hive next to it instead? I would be moving a full two deeps worth of bees which might be a pain, but if it prevents the ants…

Just I don’t think its a good idea to move a weaker hive near where ants could get them like what happened with the first hive.

Thoughts? also any tips for moving hives would help. I’ve done it before but that has only been with nuc sized hives.

sorry for the loaded question, but it isn’t super urgent. Inspecting tomorrow.

If you need more info please ask :smile:

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Certainly much easier to move when the hive is smaller - just protect it from the ants like you did for your flow hive and all should be ok.

If the ants never localize the forage source, you won’t need as much of a barrier.

How far is the move? You may also consider putting the hive on a cart/hand trick/dolly and just moving a meter or so each day, if it’s not too far. If it is a longer distance but not many miles then you will need to close it up at night and move it and then force the workers to reorient by placing obstructions at the entrance - but even so you are likely to have some bees returning to the old location.

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