New Beek, 5 week old 3 lb package bees. 1 hive on property.
As posted on another thread I moved my hive last night, night as in after dark. I stuffed the entrance with a rag and then replaced it with a good dose of pine straw. This morning at daybreak I was out there looking. The former location had hundreds(?) of bees looking for the hive.
Questions;
How can I get these bees over to the new location (about 20-30 yards in front of old location) and
Do bees get caught after dark and just chill somewhere until daylight?
That is what this scene would suggest. I placed a super at the old location with about 4 wax coated plastic frames in there. What I have been doing is once there's a number of bees there I take it over to the new hive and shake them off. The entrance is still blocked but it has a screen bottom board, so I figured they may "smell" the queen and hang around.
What if later on I took the top & inner cover off would that bring them in?
Or would ventilation do just as good.
When should I remove the pine straw?
(I also have a pine limb obstructing the entrance for the purpose of reorientation)
From MB's site:
Leaving a box
Leaving a box at the old location is another of those complicated things. If you leave one from the start they all return and just stay there. If you leave nothing at the old location they will look for the new location, but some may get stuck at the old location. If you wait until just before dark to put a box there you will motivate them to find the new location, but still give them somewhere to go. You can move that to the new location, and in warm weather, just set it beside the hive. In cold weather you may need to put this box on top, but that's not a pleasant thing to do in the dark.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm)
Yes in warm weather it is possible some may get caught away from home overnight and return later. So I have been told.
If too many keep returning to the old site when you unplug like a mass number, you may have to move it back and then move it 3 ft at the time. A pain for certain if you can,t move it totally away (3 miles) and return it.
The hives I have moved, some a few yards, the farthest about 150 yards, I have some window screen rolled up that I stuff in the entrance. Will move, place some leafy branches in front of entrance and open within and hour of getting them set up. I move them in the morning or afternoon. I have had a few bees show up where the hive was, usually 20 to 50. If you moved them 20 yards, and when you open the entrance maybe they will go to the hive. Good luck to you and your bees
Joe
sc-bee, that made sense about not having a box at the old location, so I took your advice. Seems like more are buzzing around the new location than before. I think what was happening was when I shook out the bees at the new set up they just turned around and went back to the other one. I did see foragers with pollen entering at the new location. There's still bees buzzing around the old location but there is a small breeze blowing from the direction of the hive towards the lost bees. I'm banking on the queen's scent drawing them there.
Joe D; They've been there since last night and it's 11am now, so with what you said and what I've read on MBs website I'm going to take the pine limb away from the front to make it less complicated to return. I'll probably still leave something to make them readjust when they leave. Thanks.
I find a branch in front of the hive that blocks their path is more effective than filling the entrance in with grass. Both work somewhat, but the branch makes every bee that leaves take notice. The grass only makes the bees who first removed the grass take notice...
Thanks Mike, I enjoy reading your stuff.
I had a branch in front of the entrance and left it there for a couple hours or so. As I checked on them throughout the day I had about come to the conclusion that right at dark I would most likely put up a super in the old location and before daylight place it in front of the hive so ET might find home. I got to noticing that it seem some of them was just flying back and forth from the old location to the new. Sometimes I would stand still where the hive used to set and a number of bees would come up to me searching. Just a while ago (with rain threatening) I did it again and had only about three try to search me out. So I'm not putting a super in tonight. I'm pretty sure they know where home is. I've got stung at least 5 times today and I want to say more than five but I don't remember any more. No problems with the stings. Man I'm used to yellow jackets, wasps, and hornets, so a bee sting is on the lessor end of the bunch.
Would that previous location be a good spot to put a swarm trap at next spring?
> I had a branch in front of the entrance and left it there for a couple hours or so.
I would leave it for a couple of days or more...