Moving Hives

Whether you're moving your bees across the yard or across the country, there are some basic principles and processes that will make the move easier for both you and your bees.

There is an old adage that you should either move your bees less than 2 feet or more than 2 miles. Only 2 feet and all of your foragers who are oriented to the old hive location should be able to find the new location. Over 2 miles and your bees will realize right away that they need to reorient and you won't lose as many foragers.

You can move bees some in between distance, but you will need to close them in for 24-48 hours so that they are forced to reorient to the new location.

* A hive lifter sure makes the job easier if you will be moving hives on a regular basis!

Here are my rules of thumb for moving bee hives:

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