Moving A Hive When In Cluster

[Jen]

My friend, Rich, that I have mentioned a few times on forum, and who always ticks me off on how he chooses to not take care of his bee's in todays world...  made the mistake of telling me that his hive is now in complete shade all winter long. He says he can't do anything about it now that winter has set in...  gnarl gnarl gnarl

But, I'm curious about this. I know that my 3 hives, and his 1 hive are in cluster, or not coming out hardly at all at this point. Would it be wise for him to move his hive into a sunnier spot over winter? Would it upset the wintering bees/cluster?

[Riverrat]

Your better off leaving them in the shade for the winter. Moving a hive while in cluster is not a good idea.  If you break the cluster it will be a death sentence for the bees

[Jen]

Okay, good to know, Thanks rrat. Now I'm back to the insulation question for his bees. Tar paper wouldn't work because sun is not going to hit the hive. Might he put on a bit of insulation in our area. I'm not going to do that (finally made that decision) because sun hits my hives about half the day. Or should I not suggest it?

[Riverrat]

In your area I would vent the inner cover reduce the front entrance and call it good

[Jen]

K Thanks! I'll suggest it to him. I don't think he has an inner cover even. We'll see.

[iddee]

If he insists on moving them, wait for a warmer day. Move them as it warms to 40 F., but before it hits 45, on a day it will get into the fifties. That way they will be able to rebuild the cluster.

[riverbee]

i'm with rat jen......

bees are pretty cold hardy, and they 'adapt'. moving them is not worth disturbing the cluster.  they will do alright AS LONG AS they have fuel...FEED (honey stores or some kind of sugar feed) to get them through and have not been reduced because of mites.

my bees are not exactly in the most 'winter friendly' position for winter months, but great for summer months.

[Jen]

He's thinking of moving them down to Sacramento, about 6 hours south of here, more gentle winter weather. I dunno... I don't think he should move them at all...

I'm not sure of the mites, I had a bucket of MAQS, 2 years outdated, and he used those to treat this early Fall. Then wasn't interested in a Fumidil treatment. I don't even know if Fumidil can be used here now, not in a syrup anyway.

I swear to gawd, I just want to slap the doo doo out of him 

[riverbee]

"more gentle winter weather"

..............

ps sorry jen couldn't help it, tell him to come here we will give his bees some 'gentle winter weather'......... ..............
better yet, send them up perry's way.........

[robo]

I was going to offer a different response than not to move until I read 6 hours.   If it was just to a sunnier location in the same yard, then yes you can move them if you are careful and gentle and don't jar them and cause the cluster to fall.   However,  I don't care how gentle you try to be, a six hour drive is going to disturb them.   The only option is to wait for a warm day as Iddee suggests.

[Jen]

Hi Robo    Nice to hear from you, and thanks for that input ~

[brooksbeefarm]

A 6 hour drive i hope gasoline prices stay down. Is he going to move there ?? Jack

[Jen]

Nope. He wants them to make more honey! He was disappointed this year because his bees only made enough for themselves....

What Ever!

I kept repeating the word drought drought drought... SEVERE DROUGHT!!! That's when he claims his attention decifate syndrome and didn't hear me.

[LazyBkpr]

I was going to offer a different response than not to move until I read 6 hours.   If it was just to a sunnier location in the same yard, then yes you can move them if you are careful and gentle and don't jar them and cause the cluster to fall.   However,  I don't care how gentle you try to be, a six hour drive is going to disturb them.   The only option is to wait for a warm day as Iddee suggests.

   We always waited until the bees were clustered to move them to their wintering spots. Usually just across the same yard, but once in a while it was from one yard to another.  In reading C.C. Millers books you will read how he moved bees to put them into the cellar. ALL of his bees were overwintered in the cellar, but he does also talk of gentle handling, though I wonder how gentle a wagon or truck of the time were on the clustered bees?
   I freely admit, the ONLY knowledge I have about moving bees in the winter is that we waited until they were clustered to do it. I do not know why OR how hard it is on the bees. We also did not move them more than a few miles.  I also cannot tell you if those hives we moved furthest were spring casualties..   I often regret the lack of attention and lack of curiosity I once had for Bees.
 

[Jen]

It makes sense to me in one way, in that all the bees are together, no one bee will be left out.

Then of course if the frames aren't tight together, they may sway and bang into bees and kill some of them, including the queen.

Update: turns out he's not taking the bees south. I gave him the info and he feels okay to gently move them to a sunnier location in his yard.

Or I could offer a sunny place in my yard but I don't know what kind of crud his hive may have... soooo, I think not.