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Moving

Posted: November 26th, 2018, 7:57 pm
by Marknbrtn2
I will be moving in a few weeks. The new house is only half a mile to a mile away. Do I need to move my bees to a location approximately 5 miles or so away to help the bees reorient? If so, how long do I need to leave the bees before moving back to my new home?

Thank you

Re: Moving

Posted: November 26th, 2018, 9:08 pm
by Allen Dick
You don't say where you live or what the weather's like. Without that information I can't really advise.

If you were here in central Alberta you could pick up the hive and move it anywhere you like then not worry about losing bees unless you did it on a really warm day.

When the weather is too cold for the beed to fly much it's not a worry to move the hives around. They won't return to the old site.

Re: Moving

Posted: November 27th, 2018, 4:36 am
by Marknbrtn2
I am in Tennessee in the USA. Our temp during the winter can range from 40 degrees f in the days down to 20 degree f at night or later this week the day temp willl be 68 degree f down to 50 degree f at night. There is such a swing in temperature that it can really be difficult to predict what to do when moving bees.

Re: Moving

Posted: November 27th, 2018, 9:31 am
by Allen Dick
If you are sure that the bees have not been flying much for three days you can just move them as you see fit. The future weather does not matter.

The times not to move randomly is when they are foraging freely. Foragers just fly out and back without any orienting. In slack times, the bees orient before each flight.

Bees memories fade after three inactive days. After that bees will remember the old stand and may buzz around it a bit, but they won't cluster there. They'll return to the new location.

For that matter if any bees do cluster until dark at the old site, just gather them up and dump them on the doorstep of the hive at dusk.

Re: Moving

Posted: November 28th, 2018, 2:41 am
by Marknbrtn2
Thank you for the advice. I really do appreciate the information you have given me.