Show a pic of your setup

Here is mine, the flow super only went on 2 weeks ago.

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Iā€™m going to give that a try

Here is a few pictures of my apiary in the PH , only one flow hive which is very active and three langstroth 10 frame hives that are developing nicely. I hope to put the flow hive honey supper on soon.

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New Apiary coming soonā€¦

I am moving my hives to a new sunnier location. It also moves them out of my pasture so it will not need fenced off (see first pic in this thread). Current location has shade over half the day.

I am not following the rule of 2 miles or 2 feet so I thought the best time would be winter since they are not flying this time of year. Moving them about 200 yards. They will also be closer to my clover field. I will be as gentle as possible. Hope they move ok.

Since it is winter, do I need to put a branch in front to make them reorient?

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@RBK

I like the ultimate hive stands. I have 4 of them now. You can fill the legs with sand for stability. I donā€™t have wood working equipment to build nice ones myself so I pony up the expense of these stands.

They came with the frame holders on the side. I only put them on every other hive since the hives are side by side. Have to watch your shins with them sticking out.

Hope this helps.

Joe

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I would (or a shrub - easier for me to get hold of), as it canā€™t hurt. Plus even if they are clustered, some bees will be doing cleansing flights, so you canā€™t assume that they wonā€™t notice the move. Make sure you seal up the hive too - bees will detect the motion and you might be surprised how many guards they can mobilize in a short timeā€¦ :blush:

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Do you put the branch or obstruction right against the hive?

I put it as close as I can - it needs to make the take off flight path very different from what they are used to do doing. By the way, I love your new apiary. Very pretty.

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Thanks @Dawn_SD

Once I get my hives in place and all set up, I will post a new picture.

Hiya Plutoman, Iā€™ve just recently moved a hive 10-15 metres successfully. I closed the entrance at night with a piece of wood. Try to be quick and close it first time. The first piece of wood I used was too small and guards came out and I had to wait an hour before I could try againā€¦ I moved it immediately into the new position and put branches with leaves all in front directly at the entrance so the bees had to get through a maze to get out. Once done I opened the entrance and got out of there in a hurry. The next couple of days there were some bees flying around the old area but the majority were returning to the new position.
I totally cleared the branches after 2 days.
Hope my experience helps.

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So here is my branch disguised as a piece of plyboard ha ha!

Think this will reset their mental map?

I plan to move one or 2 at a time and I did this one at night. 3 more to move.

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Yup. Should work, but please let us know! :blush:

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Yikes, I moved the hives last night and put boards in front of their entrance but now there are a lot of bees at the old location. Wondering if I should move the one back to collect the ones that are lost.

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If they havenā€™t found the new location by mid afternoon, I would consider putting a spare box near the old site for them to resettle in. When it goes dark, shut them in, then use newspaper to recombine them with the weakest hive at the new location. By the time they get through the newspaper, they should have learned that they need to re-orient properly this time! :blush:

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I think putting a branch in front of the hive creates a labyrinth of sorts so they are forced to notice a difference when exiting and as it is just as easy to exit the hive in the new location, bar the board in front, they may not feel the need to reorientate. :donā€™t know:
Bobby T did a ā€˜move hive less than 2 miles videoā€™ and he left a box at the old location as he was concerned about the bees at the old site like yourself. When he looked in the box in the old location at the end of the day there were very few bees in it.
I wouldnā€™t and didnā€™t leave a box at the old site, yes there were many bees hanging around the old site but there were plenty of bees returning to the new site with their pollen bags full and after a few days there were no bees at the old site and all was good.

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Finished with Food Grade Tung Oil/Citrus Solvent

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The day turned interesting. After reading @Michael_Bush website on moving hives, I decided against moving a hive back to the old site. Despite there being quite a cloud of bees and small clusters at mid day, by dusk, there was only a small cluster of which liked my glove so I carried them to the new spot.


It was interesting that the bees were acting just like they do when installing a package, not aggressive and lots of fanning on my glove. They were despretly trying to organize in some way. It was also a strange sensation having them vibrate like that on my glove. If I was not a chicken, I am sure I didnā€™t need my glove.

In the end very few bees were lost in the move and all 4 hives are full of bees so I think it worked. Thanks everyone for the advice.

And just to put this thread back on topic :thinking:ā€¦very cool wood work @Anon

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Sounds like you did exactly the right thing. I wouldnā€™t move a hive back to the old site, but I always have a spare nucleus box and a few frames which I could put in the old spot for an afternoon if I was really worried. Much easier to carry around too! :wink:

Iā€™m not that goodā€¦yetā€¦these came from http://ecobeebox.net/

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Gorgeous! Looks like a beautiful product. And did you do that lovely carving, Ed?