Hi

I posted an item some weeks back about the time interval required
between 3 feet moves of a hive.  No replies appear to have been posted.
I have now completed the move and can report as follows:

The four hives concerned were in a line (although pointing in slightly
different directions) at the edge of a concrete road.  We moved them
backwards (that is in the direction opposite to the way out for the
bees) about 3 feet at a time, keeping the distances between the hives
roughly constant.  The line of the hives was rotated about one end of
the line so as to move the hives to the side of the road.  The distance
moved by the farthest hive was about 30 feet in total.

We moved the hives every day, in the early evening, while the bees were
still flying.  There was a nectar flow on, but not a very strong one.
Once the hives were back on the road, away from the edge the bees were
immediately flying straight into the entrance of each hive as if it had
never moved.  The first two moves away from the edge was not so easy for
the bees as they appeared to be orientating on some weed plants by the
edge.  They would swoop around these, and then fly around for a second
or two until locating the new entrance position.  We had individual
coloured shapes on the front of each hive(different colours and shapes
on each hive).

This experience suggests that in this set up, with no distinguishing
features local to the hives, and with moves backwards, that daily moves
of 3 feet appear to be no problem to the bees in finding the new
location.

Regards
--
Mike Rowbottom


HARROGATE
North Yorkshire
UK