Long distance bee keeping

[pistolpete]

Well, it's done.  I've moved about 300 miles south.  My bees, however, stayed up in Williams Lake.   That's one hades of an out there out yard.  I plan to check on the bees about once a month and move them south at the end of August.   I've left them with plenty of room.  Actually way too much room for most of them.  The 4 Nucs are now living in 2 deep boxes each.   I figure since it's mostly drawn comb they should fill them out reasonably quick.    The two full size hives have 3  deep supers each (that's a bit of optimism from me, but I wanted to be safe even if I can't be up there for 2 months).

What happens to Nucs whey you give them too much room?  We don't have problems with wax moths and hive beetles, so I hope I didn't screw it up.

[Perry]

Better too much room than not enough. You did the right thing.
Long distance keeping can be tough. When we moved 4 years ago I was busy doing a gut job on our new-to-us house and the hives were a little over an hour away. All this was going on in July, August, and into September, probably the most critical time in the beekeeping year. I lost 10 of 22 over that next winter. Even now, my yards that are the farthest away just don't seem to get quite the attention the close ones do.
Congrats on the move! 

[Zweefer]

Congrats on the move.  Best of luck with the girls....

[lazy shooter]

I'm happy to see someone willing to move in order to better their position in life.  Your bees will probably be fine this summer, and if your move doesn't work out you won't have to move them twice.  Good luck on your new employment.  Moving is always difficult.  I know, because my bride and I have moved seven or eight times.  Take care of the other business.  The bees will be there.  Again, God speed and good luck on your new venture.

lazy

[Curtchann]

Congrats on the move and hope all goes well!

[Slowmodem]

I hate moving worse than anything, I believe.   I hope you get settled and are happy there.  Legally, I can't say anything about spraying BT on the drawn combs to prevent wax moths.  But it's handy to have some around, as it has a very long shelf life as long as it's not made into solution.  I hope you never see a hive beetle.  They're nasty and will absolutely ruin a hive.

[riverbee]

i'm with perry pete, leaving them too much room rather than not enough is a good decision.  better more room than not enough, the worst they can do is just strip wax, propolize and burr comb the heck out of things, or whatever floats their boat.......   (or swarm, hope not for you)
for the nucs, 2 deep boxes sounds good, and also for the full size hives leaving 3 supers on until you can get back to check on them.
like you said, you don't have problems with wax moth or hive beetles so you are good to go, and not have that worry. are they protected from bears?  can't remember if you did or not?
funny thing about bees, left alone to their own devices for 2 months or two years can be amazing and a learning experience.  they seem to do alright under whatever circumstance.
good luck, best wishes to you pete, looking forward to an update from you.