Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: bilder on January 22, 2013, 03:59:14 pm
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Last Thanksgiving, my brother in law said I could have an old hive of his. He said his bees ran off a year or two ago and would be glad if someone made use of it. It is about a 4.5 hour drive at a house he is renting to his daughter.
Well I finally got up here to look at the hive....and it is full of bees! So much for empty. I was just going to put each section into a bag and stick it in the trunk of the rental car I have, but now with the bees I am not sure how to do this.
New beek.....hive full of bees.....4.5 hour drive....rental car....January....
Can it be done or will I end up killing the bees, wrecking the car, or some other horrible fate I dare not consider.
Hive is located in Sherwood Oregon, I live near Medford.
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I'm a newbie, so there may be others with better advice, but I'll take a shot.
- Wait until sundown to block the entrance, ensuring all the foragers are home for the night. (depending on current temps, this may not be an issue for you).
- Block the entrance with either a piece of wood or staple some hardware cloth in place.
- Get a good ratchet strap and strap everything together...Bottom board, hive boxes, and cover. (Make sure there's no escape route)
- Place in vehicle and drive home. (I've read that your frames should be parallel to the road to reduce the chance of rolling and killing bees, I've had others tell me it really doesn't matter).
Good Luck! :)
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leave them till its warm enough to transport. close the hive up at night strap the hive boxes all together and load onto trailer or put in truck bed. horrible fate, dead bees and wrecked rental is what I see today. Moving them is quite easy with with all 7 "p's" involved.
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If it's cold out just close the entrance, throw them into the trunk leaving it open so it doesn't warm too much and drive.
Scott
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Outside high temps are in the 35-45 degree range for the next few days.
I would like to have this hive, but do not want to harm the bees. It is also full of unharvested honey as my bro-in-law thought the bees were all gone. This hive has had no maintenance for over a year.
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Last Thanksgiving, my brother in law said I could have an old hive of his. He said his bees ran off a year or two ago and would be glad if someone made use of it. It is about a 4.5 hour drive at a house he is renting to his daughter.
Well I finally got up here to look at the hive....and it is full of bees! So much for empty. I was just going to put each section into a bag and stick it in the trunk of the rental car I have, but now with the bees I am not sure how to do this.
New beek.....hive full of bees.....4.5 hour drive....rental car....January....
Can it be done or will I end up killing the bees, wrecking the car, or some other horrible fate I dare not consider.
Hive is located in Sherwood Oregon, I live near Medford.
At first temperature must be higher than 10-12 C. Best wait until spring. Bees after transit must fly a little and calm down, therefore it must be warm. You must start early in the morning, when all bees are in the hive. To the hive hole insert the sponge. Which bottoms is in a hive? Grid or the board? If the grid it will be fine.
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Looking like the only way to get this in the trunk would be to take it apart or lay it on its side.
Could I at least take a few frames of honey from the top? Would take away the sting of having to leave it behind.
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Looking like the only way to get this in the trunk would be to take it apart or lay it on its side.
Could I at least take a few frames of honey from the top? Would take away the sting of having to leave it behind.
Again, I'm probably out my league here, but possibly you could use a fume board to push the bees into the lower boxes/box and then cover and seal that up...then transport the honey supers however you would like.
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I was wondering how you were going to close the truck lid. I wouldn't take any honey that have set up for their winter feed either. Sounds to me that leaving till spring would be the best option for you and the bees.
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Rent a van.
Best would bee to do it in the spring
If all else fails just divide the boxes so they fit in the trunk, make sure they are ventilated , mosquito netting and duct tape.
They will bee :evil: very unhappy :evil: so wear a bee suit.
Put the hive back together and hope for the best.
Not a good idea, but if you don't have a choice.
mvh edward :-P
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I would leave them and come back in the spring, they are a going hive.
But you have 9 hours in already and another 9 to come back, plus rental car ext.
wooden ware with a going hive 300 bucks on the high side?
nuc in the spring 125?
wooden ware alone 150?
your cost for 18 hours?
maybe just take them and hope for the best.
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First off. contact your local bee club. talk to them. get with one of the group as a mentor. ask if some one has a truck. offer to pay the fuel and 50 bucks and the day to help you set it back up at your house and give you a lesson. It will be the best money you every spent to get a first hand lesson on how to handle bees and what to look for in your new hive.
John
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One thing for sure, it's a dang good hive of bees. The wooden ware plus a good hive of bees is worth some effort. Read the above posts and work accordingly. It sure might be worth another trip in a van to pick them up.
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Talked to my bro-in-law last night and he says the hive was empty last time he looked at it back in 2011. Sounds like we have a feral hive that took up shop last year.
I am going to come back later this spring with a truck or van and scoop them up.
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Sounds like a plan....Keep us posted! :)
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http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm#twomiles (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm#twomiles)
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http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm#twomiles (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmoving.htm#twomiles)
Michael,
Thanks for posting that link...
I caught Bee Fever a few months ago and have watched and read more bee related material on the web than most can imagine. Early on in that process I stumbled across some of your stuff and appreciated your philosohy which shaped some of the decisions I've made on how I wanted to move forward and approach being a beekeeper.
Somewhere along the way I read about the 2 feet or 2 mile rule. That's been one of those problems in the back of my mind causing me to lose sleep. Just got my first bees and have no need to move them at this time. However, I'm pretty confident at some point I'll want to move some bees, and I'm quite confident I'll probably want to be moving them more than 2 feet, but less than 2 miles.
The process explained in your link was welcome news!
Appreciate your and so many others on this forum's willingness to document and share their knowledge. It's greatly appreciated! :)