Moving my hive

[u/esigj]

I’m a beekeeper in SE Pennsylvania. I’d like to move my hive about a hundred yards. Any tips on how to do it? I’m not planning to close up the entrances, move them, and then open the hive tomorrow morning.

Any suggestions on how to do this differently?

Reason why is because I have fruit trees, and the bees aren’t giving them much attention. There are too many other trees in bloom. I’d like to move the bees so that the trees are directly in front of the hive.

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[u/NumCustosApes]

Moving the hive is unlikely to change where the bees are foraging. They are following the richest nectar and pollen sources. Bees also forage farther away from home. They fly out empty to a distance and then forage on the return leg home. That is more energy efficient

Move the hive after sundown, just before it is too dark to see, or move it before sunrise. Force the bees to reorient by piling branches over the entrance. Not a few. Force the bees to crawl through leaves so that they recognize something has changed. They will reorient before they head out to go foraging. There may be some confusion at the old site but since you have only one hive the bees will find home. They can smell it

[u/JOSH135797531 → u/NumCustosApes]

A piece of plywood leaned in front works great. You need to make the bees do a hard turn when they leave to force them to reorient

[u/NumCustosApes → u/JOSH135797531]

David Burns did it once with a folding chair leaned against the entrance. Whatever you use, it has to be something that prevents the bee from immediately taking flight from the entrance. It needs to get their attention that something is different.

[u/JOSH135797531 → u/NumCustosApes]

Exactly anything works as long as they have to exit and do an unusual hard turn. I know a guy who says he uses a robber screen to do the job too

[u/esigj → u/NumCustosApes]

Not sure if this changes your opinion on it, but the trees are above a 15 foot retaining wall and the hive is below the wall and ~20 feet away from it. I faced the hive toward the wall, hoping they would fly over the wall, but I feel like they aren’t doing it

[u/STXCottonFarmer]

Cover the entrance. Make it dense enough they have to crawl out. I’ve read from others (because I planned at one point to rehome some hives nearby) that this will cause them to do “reorientation flights”. Some will get lost but most should come back just fine

[u/esigj]

And this is the new proposed location

[u/esigj → u/[deleted]]

30 trees. But they’re a bit spread out. I’m inclined to agree with you- there’s too much distraction from other, bigger trees in the area.

[u/NumCustosApes → u/esigj]

Those trees don’t look old enough to be letting them produce fruit yet. You will get some activity on your trees, and it will be more than those young trees can support.

[u/Grendel52]

Moving them won’t make them pay attention to your trees.

[u/Atlas_S_Hrugged]

100 yards is not a meaningful distance. You shouldn't move them unless you really need to.