Hi All
 
As regards how to move a hive, on this continent we have nasty bees,
so bees outside the hive are not welcome.
 
Here is how I do it (especially with my more hybrid hives which are
more aggressive). This is a technique I gleaned from an old textbook.
 
Place an empty super on top of the beehive the day before moving.
Tape it on with packing tape. Any surpluss bees will hang inside on
the top of the inner cover.
 
To move: Come up to the hive. At night bees are sensitive to foot
falls so tip toe. Smoke the entrance six times with strong white
smoke. Smoke around the lid, lift it and smoke through the hand hold
of the inner cover. (note of they have clustered under the hole, it
is important to smoke a few more times to get some smoke into the
actual hive body)
 
The bees will now not notice for two hours that they are being moved.
 
Why smoke them at night? Well bees are sensitive to carbon dioxide
presence. Smoke dulls their ability to sense CO2. So, if you did not
smoke them, they would get excited and begin running around. Soon
they would raise their own CO2 levels. You have plugged the entrance,
so it cannot get out. They panic and raise the hive temperature by as
much as ten degrees killing the brood and making the frames much
weaker and more likely to sag.
 
So, I just smoke them, load them on the truck (bakkie as we call
them) and move them at night. I wear shorts and a tea shirt and for
twenty hives recently picked up a total of two stings -  and this was
moving hives without the entrance being plugged. The two stings were
when I stuck my fingers into a hive entrance to remove propolis so
that the bees, on better forage would not lose too much time.
 
Keep well
 
Garth
 
Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
Eastern Cape Prov.
South Africa
 
Time = Honey
 
After careful consideration, I have decided that if I am ever a V.I.P
the I. may not stand for important.
(rather influential, ignorant, idiotic, intelectual, illadvised etc)