re-orientation object placed in front of the hive question

adamant · July 07, 2011, 06:57:40 AM

keep in mind that some of the questions i ask may seem elementary to you but i am a new beekeeper..
i been reading that when a hive is moved to another location it is good to place i stick or twig in front of EACH hive so the bees can orientation themselves to the new location.. my question is: just lean a twig against the front? and remove it the next day? see pic.. a branch like this with leaves?

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KD4MOJ · July 07, 2011, 08:51:21 AM

I just put a big stick in front to block the entrance. They have to climb over the stick so that makes them reorient to the hive.After there is no more orientation, I remove the stick.

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

adamant · July 07, 2011, 09:08:21 AM

Place a Stick on each one? After they ore nat themselves they will know which hive to go back to? (All nine hives are in line with one anther 16" apart)

Tommyt · July 07, 2011, 09:32:09 AM

I have small landing on my hives
I place a 1X board at an angle that
would cause them to smack their
heads, if the took a running start :evil:
this cause's all kinds of hell for a day :-D
But they learn stop look around
then leave.
A day later I take it off

Tommyt

G3farms · July 07, 2011, 10:07:27 AM

I place a hand full of grass on the landing board, this makes them stop and re-orientate. The plus side is they will remove the grass themselves (I am a lazy beekeeper).

KD4MOJ · July 07, 2011, 10:55:22 AM

Quote from: adamant on July 07, 2011, 09:08:21 AM
Place a Stick on each one? After they ore nat themselves they will know which hive to go back to? (All nine hives are in line with one anther 16" apart)

Nope... the hive or hives that you relocate needs to have the obstruction. The ones that are not moved don't need anything.

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

CapnChkn · July 08, 2011, 01:06:23 PM

When you go walking in the woods, you are going to need to turn around every so often and look at what the trail looks like from the other side. If you don't, you will get hopelessly lost, and if you don't look and don't get lost, you don't walk through the woods.

Bees come out, and look at what the hive looks like. When they're flying around looking, they're remembering what all the stuff around is, not the inside of the hive. Each time they go out they look a little further.

When you stick a branch or some other obstruction in the way, you simulate what might happen in nature when a branch falls from a tree and now blocks the way. From the viewpoint of a creature 1/2 inch long, the whole world has changed, and needs to be relearned.

I hang the leaves and stuff over the entrance so they have to crawl through it to get out.

Michael Bush · July 08, 2011, 07:08:44 PM

If the bees don't have to work to get around it, it's not blocking things enough to help. Every hive will need one.

adamant · July 09, 2011, 06:53:15 AM

thank you all for your replies. UN loaded them last night. removed the screens covering the entrance before first light (amazing how many bees where out there). placed some small branches across the landing board .. today going to get feeders (i think this time i am going to get the qt. jar feeders instead of the top 4 gal. feeders..)