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Subject:
From:
Gordon Scott <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Discussion of Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 26 Apr 1996 18:38:00 +0100
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On Fri, 26 Apr 1996, Mason Harris wrote:
 
> Well, I did what I thought I probably should not have done
> and now I am paying for it.  A few weeks ago I made my first
> two splits.  I put one split in a 5 frame nuc and the other
> into a deep.  I thought it was time to move the nuc to it's
> new location this morning so I moved it about 15' away on the
> other side of 5 other hives I have.  Well guess what.  That's
> right, the bees from the nuc are absloutly lost and confused.
> They are flying all over and not finding the new nuc location.
> It appears they are trying to enter the hive (deep split) closest
> to the old location of the nuc. I have an entrance reducer on
> the deep split and there is a wild crowd at the frond door.
> For some reason I thought they would have no trouble finding
> the new location as it is only 15' away.  WRONG!
 
Oops. Yup. Don't worry though.
 
The standard rule is less than three feet or more than two miles.
Well, the figures vary a bit, but the ballpark's ok.
 
If you only want to move them the 15' and have nowhere else to
take them for the few weeks it takes them to forget their old
home, you will probably get away with it provided there are
plenty of brood and decent food stores in the nuc. It'll slow
the nuc down a fair bit, but they should cope ok. You could
give them a boost later with another brood comb if they need it,
you could give them a food comb now if they need it. They need
_pollen_ as much as honey.
 
Those confused bees will go to the nearest substitue hive as
you point out. That's a useful thing to remember if you want to
adjust the numbers of bees in a colony for boosting, reducing
or swarm management.
 
> Can anyone tell me what I can expect to happen now?
 
What you do is up to you but consider make sure the nuc stays
storng enough (they probably will). Maybe close the entrance
a little to reduce the risk of robbing.
 
A potential gottcha -- if those bees left behind go en-masse
into an already very full hive, they may trigger swarming due
to overcrowding. Maybe take the entrance reducer off?
 
Regards,
--
Gordon Scott   [log in to unmask]      [log in to unmask] (work)
The Basingstoke Beekeeper (newsletter)      [log in to unmask]
<A HREF="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/apis">Embryo Home Page</A>
Beekeeper; Kendo 3rd Dan; Sometime sailor.  Hampshire, England.

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