new location for the divided new hive

[murad]

Hello everyone,
I always face a problem when I divide my hive to creat two new hives. After I finish the division process; I keep one of the new two hives in the place of the original one and the other one I place 70-100 feet away from its original place. The problem is that a huge number of worker bees return back to their original place. What recommendations can you give me to overcome this. I am very thankful for any help.

Murad.

[Robo]

You  need to move the hive further away (miles) if possible.   If this is not possible,  move more bees to the new location when you make the splits to account for some moving back to the original hive.   Also remember that only field bees will return,  so try to move more of the nurse bees (uncapped brood) to the split in the new location.

You could also try moving both splits so that there is no original location for them to return to,  but this might mean more drifting into other hives.  Also put some brush/weeds in front of the hive entrance so that they will take new bearings as they leave the hive.

[Kirk-o]

Hey Buddy
I've had the same problem this is what works for me.I have my bees in Los Angeles.I don't have a big rural landscape to choose from plus I've got bad legs so I'm gimpy.What I do and it works pretty good.After I move the one split I stuff cheese cloth or schreaded paper from a office
schreader in the entrance and I put some weeds or a small branch to cause a desire to re-orient by the Bees this has worked good.If it is hot
I put a screen on the top I had made at the Hardware store .
good luck
kirk-0

[Michael Bush]

I put each half facing the old location.  That way none go back to the old palce because there is no hive in the old place then they have to decide which one to go back to.  If they get uneven, I swap the two.  The other solution is shake a lot of bees into the split and figure half will return to the old lcoation.  Also a branch in front of the door helps trigger reorientation for some and helps with the drifting.

Your other choice is to do a cut down split and figure most will return.  Get a harvest off of the old location and a split off of the new one.

[murad]

Hello,
Thanks for all you who replied to the message.
Don't you think that closing the entrance of the moved hive with a piece of screen will help. The bees in the moved hive will get used to the new location and then the screen could be remove to allow the bees to fly. The question is, are two or three days enough for that?

Murad.

[Understudy]

If you put branches in front of the hive you don't need to wait a day or two. Move the bees and put the branches in front of the hive and leave them there for a few days and then remove them. This forces two reorienting flights. One when the branches are there and one when you take them away. I have had nice success with this way.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Finsky]

When you make new nuc in same location take 2 frames of emerging bees. Brood tend to catch cold in this manner. You may put nuc on the top of bigger hive where it get warm. After 2 days put them in their place.

You must stuck the entrance otherwise robbers will come in.

[Michael Bush]

>Don't you think that closing the entrance of the moved hive with a piece of screen will help.

If you close it for 72 hours it will trigger reorientation.  But that's a long time to confine a hive that wants to fly.

>The bees in the moved hive will get used to the new location and then the screen could be remove to allow the bees to fly. The question is, are two or three days enough for that?

48 hours helps.  72 hours is the standard.  Less makes little difference.  The branch makes about as much difference.