# I need advice on moving bee hives 50' to avoid a thief



## Terri (May 10, 2002)

My bee-equipment thief came back last night!

This time he did not realize I had bees, as he picked up my strongest hive and then apparently dropped it when he got stung: these bees have settled down over the last month but I would not call them calm! I can do little things like fill their feeder without a suit, but when I lift a frame I am ALWAYS in a full suit and gloves! 

On the GOOD side the bees were still alive and well, even though they were left exposed to last night's rain, so I suited up and put the hive back together. 

I do not know what is wrong with people: when I first got into bees I had no bee boxes so I made some. It is just a square made of boards! It was not quite the right measurements but it worked well enough!

At any rate, to my regret, I never DID buy that game camera, but my thoughts now are that the hives need to be moved to the other side of my back yard to where they cannot be seen by the road. Because if and when this person comes back he may have a suit on, or worse, have a can of raid: I would not put that past him! So while I (Belatedly) may buy that game camera, I want to move the hives to a less visible location.

The trouble is, I have always heard that bees should not be moved short distances!

Has anybody done this? Any advice?


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

When it's dark, seal up the entrance and move them. Remove the seal. Then put something in front of the hive - a board, or something that makes the bees realize when they come out that something is different. They will reorient before they go out in the field.
You might have a few bees that go back to the original area, but they will make larger and larger circles until they find the hive.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

How big is your hive, maybe you can chain it together including cement blocks on the bottom to make it harder to handle, use screw eyes to keep them from slipping the chain off and padlock it.


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## thericeguy (Jan 3, 2016)

I dunno if a person can even buy africanized bees on purpose, but this situation would make me find out.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I use ratchet straps to keep the hive altogether. I have always gotten by with just one strap. That can be done in the day lite. Also getting the new area set up ahead of time is a good Idea.

Go out after dark or when it is cool and the bees are not flying, close off the entrance, I use a strip of house screen and T 50 staple gun or blue painters tape. then leave then till day lite.

In the morning I load them on my wagon or the truck to move them to there new area.



Unload them at the new area grab hands full of grass, rip the entrance closer off and stuff the grass in the entrance. these were moved by truck.



 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Allyyooper, how FAR do you move them? If you put evergreen branches at the entrance can you move them more than 3 feet but less than 3 miles? What I am looking up is giving me conflicting messages: I would like to move them about 50'


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I have moved them just 5 feet and several double digit miles with my method.


You really need to file a police report on the attempted robbery. It helps if ever you need to file an insurance claim
I would also be setting up some infer red game cameras in several spots to maybe get plate numbers of a car/truck used in the robbery.


 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

OK.

It rained so hard yesterday that there are puddles and rivers in my lawn, and the basement is flooded. I will work on this as soon as DH sets up the new bench I bought as a hive stand, which might not be until tomorrow, because right now we splash when we walk across the lawn. 

Last night's storm was....bad. Really bad.


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## COWS (Dec 23, 2012)

Another old method is to move the hive a couple of feet at a time. The bees will get used to the new location each time quickly.

Bees can be moved 2-3 miles without them coming back to the old location. Possibly you could find a friend or relative a few miles away who would allow you to park your bees on their property for a short while. I think a week would be sufficient, then return the bees to your new location. What else was the thief stealing? I've never heard of such a thing. Maybe the thief is a crack head who heard that a hive of bees cost x amount of dollars and thought he could cash one in for enough for a long high. I don't know how he would sell it, but those types of people are not know for deep thinking. 

I assume you have removed any other equipment from plain view. 

COWS


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

You really don't need to fool around with the few inches or feet thing a day.
Just stuff grass in the entrance once you open it up. I made the wad of grass so they have to work to move it enough to get out.

 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

I will move it by and by: we got so much rain we are still pumping the basement out every little bit. Someone said the governor of Kansas declared this area a disaster area but I do not know if that is true or not: we are too busy taking care of the mess to pay attention.

It did not rain today: perhaps tomorrow we will be able to set up the concrete bench I bought for a hive stand and then I can get them moved!


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

So Terri, how did this all work out for you?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Well, after I cleaned up after the heavy rains and the flooded basement, I DID get them moved! But, even though I put smelly evergreen foliage across the entrance there are perhaps 50 worker bees trying to return to their old home.

I have given them a hive box to get them collected in one spot, and with luck I will know by tomorrow night if they are trying to return to their old home.

What I am going to do, is, tonight after dark I will put a little syrup on a piece of bur comb. Then after they gather can put them in a pan with a lid on it, and brush them off onto the landing pad of a hive. It will be too dark for them to fly to their old home.

THEN I will try adding mint to the evergreens in front of the entrance.

Or possibly I will spray everybody down with 1:1 vanilla and dump them in the top of the hive and then put the lid on: I haven't decided yet.


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## k9 (Feb 6, 2008)

Good luck with it.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Well, instead of gathering on the comb in the pot they gathered on the side of the wooden hive. So, after dark I brushed them into the pot, got half of them inside and put a lid on it. 

I carried them to the hive that I had moved earlier, lifted the two lids and sprayed both the top of the hive and the pot full of bees with 1:1 vanilla and dumped them in. Then I set the lid a bit ajar. The new bees started gathering at the opening and fanning to call their sisters in. 

By the time I got back the remaining bees were clustering so I just kept doing the same thing, until I had caught as many as I could. The following potfuls of bees I simply sprayed with vanilla and dumped them on top of the lid, and then they walked into the hive. Then I stuffed the openings with mint and grass, leaving a small opening

Today some of them went back to the old location, but far more stayed with the new location.


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## DownHome (Jan 20, 2006)

Are you sure the storm didn't just blow them over?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

DownHome said:


> Are you sure the storm didn't just blow them over?


Well, not entirely, though the other storms did not blow anything over. And, no storm took the previous boxes away and off my property.

At any rate the bees are now doing well, in their new home close to my house.


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## DW (May 10, 2002)

I've never heard of spraying vanilla...have done sugar water.


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## fireweed farm (Dec 31, 2010)

Are you sure it wasn't a bear?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

fireweed farm said:


> Are you sure it wasn't a bear?


Not here, no. It is too flat and the area is too built up.

We have coyotes and a rare cougar, but that is it!


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

Can you get a couple of those 5.00 solar lights, and put up a sign that says "Smile, you are being watched and recorded"???

WHO is this idiot and what is he trying to steal?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Laura Zone 5 said:


> Can you get a couple of those 5.00 solar lights, and put up a sign that says "Smile, you are being watched and recorded"???
> 
> WHO is this idiot and what is he trying to steal?


I had intended to get a motion camera, but life got busy and it never got done. 
And, while beekeepers have a reputation for being honest- sometimes abrasively so- what was taken would only be of interest to another beekeeper. So my area apparently has at least 2 dishonest beekeepers. I say 2 dishonest beekeepers because a much larger operator has had enough bee boxes taken to qualify as a felony! His bee boxes are painted bright yellow, and they have a dark symbol on the front of each box.

It is probably 2 different thieves, as the person who took 2 elderly boxes from my yard is not likely to be the one who took large numbers of boxes from the gent who paints his yellow.


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

I'm so sorry.


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