Moving a hive box

What’s the big deal, just move it?

At some point we all want to move a hive in the yard or to another property. You might position a hive in Winter and then want to have more shade in Summer or vise verse.

Stingless bees get used to where their hive location is in relation to everything in the area and if you move it a too far any foragers that are out flying around will return to where they knew it to be and be confused and may not be able to find the new location and be lost forever, well, until they die.

It’s common practice to move a hive 50cm per day and any returning foragers should find the hive. If you move the hive 5 metres for example, the foragers will gather at the original location so you can’t move a hive too far.

If you want to move the hive a short distance you can just move it 50cm per day. If you want to move it from the front yard to the backyard or a hundred metres away it might be best to use the second method of moving it 1km away and back again after a few weeks.

Accepted practices:

  • 50cm to 1m per day. Moving a hive box small distances allows returning foragers to easily locate the hive. This move can be done at any time of the day. You can even move it a few times over the same day.
  • 1km away for a period of time and then back. If you want to move the hive from the back yard to the front yard or a similar distance you can move the hive 1km away and then back three weeks later. After a few weeks the old foragers will die of natural causes and there will be all new forager bees so the hive can be moved back to the next new location.

Other methods people have tried (may or may not work)

  • Store in the dark for one week and then to the new position. Similar as moving 1km away. Bees will may re-orientate themselves when emerging from the box, and there’ll be new foragers too.
  • Move anywhere and place a branch infront of the hive. Moving to a closeby location and placing a branch infront of the hive might cause the bees to second guess their location and re-orientate.

Hivecraft - Australian Native Bee Supplies

Native bee boxes available at www.hivecraft.com.au

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