New Hives

[timmyalex]

It's all too exciting.

Took delivery of the first of my 2 bee hives from my next door neighbour earlier today. He unfortunately has just been made redundant but is buying a canal boat and going with his wife touring the canals of the UK for a couple of years so hence the loan of his bees. I was getting my own bees later this year and am booked onto our local beekeeping society beekeeping course which starts on Monday so to actually get bees now is brilliant if not a bit scary.

We've managed to move one hive but the other was flying due to the warm weather and bulbs currently in flower so we have had to leave it until early tomorrow morning before moving it. The one we have moved this morning is now also flying and i just hope they do not try to relocate back to where they were in my neighbours property. Time will tell i suppose.

These 2 colonies were swarms from last year and although only in residence for 1/2 the season yielded over 70lbs of honey.!! They appear to have overwintered really strongly judging by the large number of bees flying around today and if the weather continues to improve i might be in for an early crop of honey.

I will post some pictures when they have settled down. I'll Buzz off now......

[Jeanied]

Didn't HFW do something about moving beehives? Apparently they have to be moved quite a way away otherwise the bees return to the original place too easily - hope this is not the case with yours!

[Glutton4...]

Awwww - lucky you. I'd love Bees, but i think I'm pushing my luck at the mo as it is!

[timmyalex]

This is what I am afraid of. The saying goes "Only move bees 3ft or 3 miles, nothing inbetween".!! We'll just have to see what happens.

[Jeanied]

I think you have to keep them shut in for a while - and maybe rig up screens to give them a different navigation route? A washing line with something hanging from it could help. Who am I to talk - I've never kept a bee in my life!

[Headfry]

HI timmyalex, great to hear you have some bees! Another beekeeper on the forum

hmmmmm, moved your bees? you might be lucky- but if they are flying then it may be that they do return to their old site. Fingers crossed for you.
I need to move mine over a little. I was hoping to move them in one go over the winter but it's too late now- so will do if bit by little bit over next few months. As I only have to move them about 10' its not so bad really.
Wanted to get some food on over the weekend but it was so cold, sunny yes, but goodness me it was freezing over there.
Maybe after this weeks cold spell it will turn a little (lot) warmer- with luck!

[DaveJ]

Keep us posted what happens. I've never kept bees myself but I simply love honey. Good luck!

[timmyalex]

New Hives Update

Well, we moved hive 1 on the Friday and we left them locked in for a day. On the Saturday we opened up the entrance and the foragers emerged as the sun was shining sufficiently to warm them up. they did go back to the neighbours but thankfully didn't stay and appeared to return to the hive for the night.

Hive 2 was moved on the Saturday morning and although sunny we kept them locked up until the evening and it was too cold to fly.

Since then we have had hard, cold nights and both hives seem quiet. I do not want to disturb them and will now wait for a sunny spell when hopefully both hives will emerge and start foraging.

I started my beekeeping course on monday night and asked the advice of the experts. After much sucking in of breath it was decided i would be very lucky to have the colonies survive as the chances were that because of the cold and the confused state of the bees i would loose so many to the cold whilst they foraged that the colony would be unsustainable going forward. Time will tell i suppose but the annoying thing is that the society runs a moving service for exactly this situation. They come and collect the hives, take them to their apiary, leave them there for a week so the bees have forgotten all about the neighbours garden they came from and then they bring them back to my garden and the bees locate themselves to my garden. Simple. I just wish I had known a few days earlier.!!

Anyway, my neigbour returns later today so maybe if it is a little warmer he might be good enough to open the hives up to see if there appears to still be viable colonies. Will keep you posted.