Hi, 1st year beekeeper so still a lot to learn. Only place bees into brood box from the nuc on Saturday. Lots of activity around the hive so all seems well. However, the entrance to the hive is SW and I am reading that ideally N would be better. Should I turn the hive 180 degrees? How will the bees react? Should I move the corflute/draft thing up?
It all depends on what part of the world you live in. In my part of the world at Buderim, Australia, a N or NE to E facing entrance is ideal. The entrance gets morning sun & afternoon shade. If the hive faces W - SW, that’s not ideal during Winter on account of cold W - SWers that can blow hard into the entrance. Ideally, the hive should have morning sun & afternoon shade.
As for turning a hive 180degs., that will confuse the bees, however they’ll get used to it in time. If you needed to turn the hive, you could turn it in stages. Just turn it 45degs. every day until you reach the desired position.
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SOrry Jeff should have said, I am in Melbourne
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Hi Tomed,
I’m from Victoria and have just spent three weeks moving my hive incrementally. I’m not across directional moves, but if I would assume it would be easier on the bees if you did it the same way. ie. Shift the hive towards the north east a little each day (maybe 3-4 days) rather than 180 degrees in one hit, to avoid confusing them.
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Hello and welcome to the Flow forum!
The usual advice is to rotate by about 30 degrees every few days. Much more than that, and the bees will have some trouble finding the entrance. They will work it out, but you might lose a few if you try to do it too quickly. 
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Thanks all, have rotated 30 odd degrees, the returning bees did a few confused circles but found their way home quickly.
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