I have to get rid of my bees/relocation distance question

tlynn · March 24, 2010, 01:59:17 PM

Last week I worked the hives for the first time in a few months, and they were particularly annoyed, as I generally find them to be at this time of year. I learned this morning from my next door neighbor that her husband got stung this weekend, which was after my working them. She also got pinged by a bee that got tangled in her hair and her son was able to get a comb and comb the bee out. This was at the same time as her husband's sting so I imagine the bee was aiming at her face and probably would have stung save for the hair interference. She says she is allergic and has ended up in the hospital in the past, which was years before my bees came along. They are the nicest people imaginable and have told us repeatedly they love the bees and the honey and love how they are all over her flowers. I'm sure the bees will calm down as the flows ramp up but we've decided we can't risk sending our neighbor to the hospital. Plus I think we've simply have outgrown yard anyway. Having six busy hives in my small back yard surrounded by neighbors doesn't seem like a very defensable position to be in when somebody gets hurt or worse. I can imagine Action News knocking on my door with cameras ready to film this crazy guy harboring large hives of dangerous bees, probably Africanized no doubt.

So I am scouting out places to relocate them, and we have always eyed a wholesale plant supply garden, which has a lot of acreage and a lake, as a potential fall back in case of a situation like this. It's secure and the hives can be a few hundred yards from any activity. We intend to approach the owners and ask about moving them there. However it's about 1.5 miles line of sight distance from where they are now. I know I can reset them by putting branches in front of the hive if I move them short distances, which seems to have worked well. Can I move them at night and do the branch trick in the morning and not expect a bunch of the foragers to end up back at my house that day?

iddee · March 24, 2010, 02:50:52 PM

Move all but the weakest one. The returnees will take up with it and strengthen it. Move it a week later. Yes, your method will work.

deknow · March 24, 2010, 03:02:30 PM

i'd be concerned about what is in a lake next to a wholesale plant business (where your bees would get water).

deknow

tlynn · March 24, 2010, 05:07:52 PM

Quote from: iddee on March 24, 2010, 02:50:52 PM
Move all but the weakest one. The returnees will take up with it and strengthen it. Move it a week later. Yes, your method will work.

Cool. thanks, Iddee. As for water quality, I don't know how to manage that. They could be getting water from there now for all I know.

RayMarler · March 25, 2010, 12:35:01 AM

And if you are blessed enough to have all 6 hives be gangbuster strong for this time of year, then move them all but leave a couple walk away splits behind. Then in 10 to 11 days, move the splits for the queens to emerge and mate.

You could leave 6 walk away splits behind, and advertise them for sale in your local bee club or move them all a week and a half later. Good luck on your adventure!

tlynn · March 26, 2010, 08:19:07 AM

Quote from: RayMarler on March 25, 2010, 12:35:01 AM
And if you are blessed enough to have all 6 hives be gangbuster strong for this time of year, then move them all but leave a couple walk away splits behind. Then in 10 to 11 days, move the splits for the queens to emerge and mate.

You could leave 6 walk away splits behind, and advertise them for sale in your local bee club or move them all a week and a half later. Good luck on your adventure!

Thanks Ray. I do have one walk away split with full queen cells as of last week. That's going to a friend when the new queen is out and laying. I could probably make one more. Good idea.

JP · March 26, 2010, 09:59:20 AM

You say you worked them for the first time in months. Do they have enough feed while they are expanding before the flow?

Hungry bees are always quite pissy.

If they have adequate stores yet are still more aggressive than you like, you could requeen them.

...JP

tlynn · March 26, 2010, 06:55:33 PM

Oh well...so much for my swarm management techniques. The neighbor who got stung last week has a volleyball sized swarm in his oak tree out front and it's reachable with an 8 foot step. I plan to get that one first thing in the morning if it's still there. And my neighbor on the other side has an equally large swarm in his camphor tree, and it's probably 30 feet up. Forget that. I believe one emerged yesterday and the other one definitely today. I can tell the hive that I added a brood box to is a little thinner, so I must have added their real estate too late. I'm not quite sure where the other swarm came from. It's most likely the one whose queen cell frames I pulled for a queenless hive. I believe there were 3 frames with queen cells and I only removed two and left the hive in the same position.

tlynn · March 26, 2010, 06:56:04 PM

Quote from: JP on March 26, 2010, 09:59:20 AM
You say you worked them for the first time in months. Do they have enough feed while they are expanding before the flow?

Hungry bees are always quite pissy.

If they have adequate stores yet are still more aggressive than you like, you could requeen them.

...JP

They have flow. They are filling supers as we speak.

JP · March 26, 2010, 08:40:24 PM

They also can be quite pissy before swarming. :-D

...JP

beee farmer · March 26, 2010, 09:09:03 PM

I agree with JP.. next spring try checkerboarding or some other swarm perevention techinque, right before they swarm they are very defensive with guard bees further out than any other time. Once they actually start gathering outside the hive to swarm you can pick them up bare handed but just the day before they are head butting before you even get the first top off.

tlynn · March 27, 2010, 08:32:11 AM

Quote from: beee farmer on March 26, 2010, 09:09:03 PM
I agree with JP.. next spring try checkerboarding or some other swarm perevention techinque, right before they swarm they are very defensive with guard bees further out than any other time. Once they actually start gathering outside the hive to swarm you can pick them up bare handed but just the day before they are head butting before you even get the first top off.

Yep, that's precisely what I am seeing.

Also what is checkerboarding?

iddee · March 27, 2010, 10:41:39 AM

>>>>Also what is checkerboarding?<<<<

Walt Wright wrote about it in several articles.

http://www.beekeepingforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=591

Edit. Having checked the link, it seems to be down at this time. Maybe it will be corrected in the near future.In the meantime, here is another one. It is working.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesexperiment.htm

Tucker1 · March 27, 2010, 12:00:45 PM

You certainly must live in a nice neighborhood. It seems like your neighbors have been great and there is no question that you're being a good neighbor. Thanks for setting the good example for all of us.

Regards,
Tucker1

Beaver Dam · March 29, 2010, 12:39:06 AM

Try putting out a trap hive for the ones up high in the tree. Worked for me last year.

Geoff · March 29, 2010, 05:07:31 AM

Hi Tucker1,
How did you come by the Australian blue heeler. Just like the last old fellow I had. Loved to climb trees, duck dive for things in water but chased cars all his life and in the end a car won.

Geoff.

Tucker1 · March 29, 2010, 12:43:02 PM

Thanks for the comment about the Blue Heeler. I've sent you a PM to give you some more background on this wonderful dog.

Regards,
Tucker1