Hello Tom
If you leave the nuc for more than a week, then bring it back, you should
get a good result. If you leave it for only 2 days you will get an
acceptable result considering that the parent hive is still in its old
location to pick up any foraging bees that  don't orient correctly to the
nuc.
I know a beekeeper who wanted to  move half of his hives from an apiary to a
spot  less than a km. He moved them away for 24 hours, then moved them back
to the new spot. He reported that a fair number of foraging bees remained
with their hives after  the move.
When I set up a nuc I usually shake bees off 2 extra frames into the nuc,
and leave the nuc sitting beside the parent hive facing backwards, making
sure that there is pollen and honey in the nuc. Older bees in the nuc will
return to the parent hive,but within a few days younger bees will begin
foraging from the nuc.
 
cheers Frank
 
Frank Farrell
Darwin NT
Australia
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-----Original Message-----
From: Computer Software Solutions Ltd <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thursday, 17 September 1998 17:16
Subject: Moving hives
 
 
>Hi All
>
>Thanks for your postings on the above subject. The consensus seems to be
>that I will have to wait until all bees whose navigation system was locked
>on to the old location are dead, before I can move the nuc back safely.
>Obviously the later I move the nuc back the fewer bees will be lost from
the
>nuc to their old hive, and after about 3 weeks few if any will be lost.
>
>This raises a question for me at any rate.
>
>The bees that were flying when in their old location, are presently flying
>using the land marks as they now exist, and with their navigation system
>locked on to the present location of the nuc. It is postulated, that if the
>nuc were returned to the old apiary, say today, that many of the bees would
>recognise the old land marks, and would not re orient their navigation to
>the new location of the nuc but rather to the location of their old hive.
>This suggests that they are capable of storing their present location and a
>previous location at the same time.
>
>Suppose I now moved them to yet another out apiary, say for a week, and
then
>move them back to the first location, what would happen then?.
>
>I am a hobbyist, as can be seen from this type of question, and I know that
>a commercial beekeeper would probably not be interested in the least in
>this. However I would be very grateful for any feed back.
>
>Sincerely
>
>Tom Barrett
>49 South Park
>Foxrock
>Dublin 18
>Ireland
>
>e mail [log in to unmask]
>Tel + 353 1 289 5269
>Fax + 353 1 289 9940
>
>Latitude  53 Degrees 16' North
>Longitude  6 Degrees  9' West of Greenwich