Hive move combined with AS?

[Torq]

Hi Guys,
I've to move a hive off the garage roof and 300M tomorrow morning. I was planning on just closing them up, moving them and releasing them after 3 days with the hive in a different orientation and a bush in front of the entrance so they have to re-orientate. It's a good strong productive colony and I was wondering if instead I should use this as an opportunity to create an artificial swarm. Letting the flying bees return to the original site to meet a frame of eggs from a different colony that I'd like to breed from.
Your thoughts?

 

[oliver90owner]

I wouldn't.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

sounds more than a bit daft to me

 

[Torq]

So please enlighten me. Why not? What's so bad about the idea?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Flying bees are older bees - their hypopharyngeal glands will have atrophied.
you need young nurse bees with fully functional glands to make loads of royal jelly to make a good queen.
So you'll have a hive of older bees trying to use their old and rusting wax glands to build comb and their less efficient hypopharyngeal glands to raise a good queen. Whilst in the other hive you will have loads of nurse bees trying to raise brood with no foragers to get more pollen and the little nectar around to feed them.
Or you could leave the hive shut up for three days in this lovely weather,just stuff some shrubbery across the hive at the new location cross your fingers and hope none will fly back to the original spot 300 yards away

 

[oliver90owner]

Moving a colony a short distance during a flow? Closing them up for three days without sufficient stores, possibly. Not leaving a nuc with drawn frames at the old site. Risking a scrub queen. Risking any queen getting properly mated, or mated at all. Not much, if any, thought given to any likely possible downsides for the bees. Artificial swarms are based around real queen cells, not eggs in worker cells.

My first thought was to reply ''crazy'', but I resisted the temptation.

All the above is not real beekeeping, just the usual actions of the many that later get piles of trouble, reduce the health and viability of their bees and reduce the potential honey crop. Apart from that lot it was possibly a perfect plan!

 

[Torq]

I have no choice but to move them as they are aggressive and in a bad location. I have no other location to move them to so the 300m away is the only option I have, they have plenty of stores so hopefully a 3 day lock in won't starve them.
I would of course be putting a nuc on the old site to catch those who want to move back home but I wondered about using it as an opportunity to AS. Well those plans have been firmly shot down! But for very good reasons! Thanks!

 

[enrico]

Don't worry torq. You asked a question, got some answers and listened to them. That is more than a lot of people on here do! It is all part of the learning experience that never seems to end!
Best of luck with the move
E

 

[Bosleeu]

I have no choice but to move them as they are aggressive and in a bad location. I have no other location to move them to so the 300m away is the only option I have, they have plenty of stores so hopefully a 3 day lock in won't starve them.
I would of course be putting a nuc on the old site to catch those who want to move back home but I wondered about using it as an opportunity to AS. Well those plans have been firmly shot down! But for very good reasons! Thanks!

For what it's worth, I have done what you wanted to do, it worked fine. Put a frame of emerging brood in with the AS, wait a few days for them to emerge, then put a frame of eggs in, with another frame of emerging brood if you have it.

Or, buy a queen, put her in the AS hive with a frame of brood. Seal the candy for a few, days, feed as well. Then let them release her.

There are many ways to skin a cat.

 

[Tremyfro]

I moved a hive...admittedly it was a nuc really....a few hundred yards. It was earlier in the spring though and the weather was awful so the bees weren't flying anyway. They were being fed with fondant. I shut them in for 3 days...wrapped the front of the hive with fir tree branches. Even when they were released...they stayed in the hive as the weather really was bad...so didn't fly for about a week. We collected the returners in a hive left in the old position....in the end only about a mug full. We were able to collect them easily as we walked past the old hive position many times each day. Now they are on about 8 frames of brood and are filling a super. I still have 2 hives to move but we are making increase this year with these hives so won't be moving them until later. I will probably move them away from home for a few weeks before moving them into the new Bee Yard.
I'm not saying it was the right way or the best way...but I wanted to try it and it worked.