I agree with Geoff's assessment:
"How far you wish to move them is only part of the equation.  In each
incremental movement it is possible to move them further forward and back
than left or right.  It is also dependant on where the orientation points
are other than the hive itself.  Think in the middle of a sport field as
opposed to a typical backyard."

Orientation landmarks are everything.

If in the middle of a sports field, lay out a white board in front of the
hive for several days as an orientation landmark.  Then move that landmark
with the hive.

I've noticed that when I've moved or swapped hives of different heights (or
when I've added or removed boxes from a hive), the bees visually return to
a hive of the original height, rather than by scent to their parent hive.
I can immediately shift the direction of the returning foragers by using
empty boxes to adjust hive heights.

An important factor is also potential stinging incidents.  The bees that
return to the old location are often quite stingy, even for several days,
and even if they go home at night to the new location.

Thanks Nancy for sharing your experiences with the left behind boxes.

I'm curious that I haven't yet seen any formal testing of the
commonly-recommended placement of something over the entrance of a moved
hive in order to initiate reorientation of the departing foragers--has
anyone seen any such test?  I've long wanted to do it myself.


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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