Hi Wally, (and y'all)
 
On moving hives short distances.
 
I needed to move my hives from my garden to a wood which is about 50 yards from my house (it was either that or
divorce!). I was going to move them away 6 miles, then bring them back, but I read in an old book that if you
moved them, and then restricted the entrance by putting a plank accross it, the bees would be stalled on their
way out, would realise they were in a differrent place and would then re-learn the orientation. The wood was in
full leaf to I thought that the bees would all not recognise their new location on leaving the hive, but the
real test is wether they learn on their way back.
 
I moved two out of four hives on the 1st night, next day there was activity on the moved ones, and a week
later, bees were flying in and out of the hives in the wood, but maybe less than before. I then moved the other
two hives. The following day, and for the following week, there were hundreds of bees hanging around anything
that looked like a hive (anything square) in the garden. I think bees were getting lost up to a week after, and
it took a lot of cold dead bees before they all got sorted. I felt terrible about this, even though the
proportion of the total number of bees was veryfew.
 
 
 I read somewhere else recently that a few days confinement in the hive helps too, I didn't try this. Also I
would leave a weak colony that you want to make stronger, in that way the stragglers can drift into it. You
then would only have one hive to move a distance away and back (this will only work for a few hives though)
 
Hope this helps
 
 
Steve
 
Kilspindie
Scotland