Moving live bee colonies to a new location may seem daunting. It takes careful planning and a gentle touch, but the steps to move bees short and long distances are relatively simple. Learn the proper safety protocols for moving bees to ensure you, your helpers, and the colony remain safe.
Reasons you may need to move a hive include:
Taking your bees with you when you move
Changes in your yard or neighborhood that require you to relocate your hives
Moving bees from an area with no open blooms to an area with plentiful flowers
Can you move a bee hive from its original location?
Yes, you can move your hives anywhere from a few feet to many miles, if necessary. While it’s important to site your apiary in the best possible location from the start, sometimes you can’t avoid relocating your bees. With proper transport safety measures and reorientation procedures, your bees can recalibrate to a new location within a few days.
Make a plan before moving a bee hive
The best time of year to move is mid- to late spring. Plan to move the hives at dusk or nighttime, in temperatures 50°F or above, making sure it’s not too hot so you can avoid population loss from overheating. If it’s so warm the bees aren’t all within the hive when you want to move it, postpone.
It’s best to move a hive no taller than 2 deeps, because of the awkwardness of lifting a tall hive. This means taking off supers and transporting them beside the brood box on the truck. Supers need something as their bottom and cover for the trip, and need to be strapped.
Gather the tools necessary to seal and secure the hives beforehand:
Transporting hives inside an enclosed vehicle is not safe: Instead, use a truck or trailer.
It's best to move well before dawn when all of the bees are in the hive. If you move them at dusk and something goes wrong, it will only get darker and worse.
Use a smoker to urge any bees outside the entry back inside the hive.
Cover the entrances with the materials described above. If your inner cover provides an upper exit, plug it or position the outer cover so it blocks the notch in the inner cover rim.
Strap your hive together from top to bottom with ratchet straps. Add a second set of ratchet straps, but allow a little slack in this set — you’ll use these to lift the hive.
Load your hives onto a trailer or truck bed: Strap them down so they stay put.
After arriving at the new place, smoke entrances, set the hives down, and promptly remove entrance closures. A sealed colony can overheat and die quickly when not cooled by the wind of traveling on a trailer.
The bees will probably be ornery for a few days after being transported. Beware.
Safety note: Although bees don’t often fly at night, they do crawl. They may find openings in your suit during a hive move,. This is not normal beekeeping. Tape wrists and ankles, recheck zippers.
Gloves are particularly important because at night (when you hope to be sealing and moving your hive) bees will rarely fly, but they will happily crawl and sting out of the entrance. Any bees on the outside of your sealed hive, and any bees that get out through an imperfect seal, will sting your hands if they aren't protected. You don't want to drop a heavy hive on your friend because you've just been stung, so wear leather gloves when moving hives.
Moving a bee hive short distances
Bees create a “mind map” of the three-mile radius surrounding the hive. If you relocate the hive any further than three feet anywhere inside that radius, your bees will return to the original hive location and wonder where it went. Only a move of less than three feet can be achieved without your foragers needing to completely rebuild their mind map.
If you’re moving your hive between three and 35 feet, you can move the hive incrementally — no more than six feet per day, and three feet per day is often better — until you reach the new location. Your bees will likely find the new location themselves. If they seem confused, encourage them to the new entrance with a few puffs of smoke.
When moving hives up to three miles at once, you’ll need to reorient your bees after the hive has been relocated. Place reorientation prompts around the entrance to each hive to tell the bees they’re somewhere new and help them create a new mind map. Within a few days, the colony should have their new neighborhood sorted out, and you can remove the prompts.
In either case, reopen the hives before dawn — or, if you moved the bees at first light, as soon as possible — to prevent overheating. A sealed colony can overheat and die in a matter of hours in warm or hot daytime temperatures.
Moving a bee hive alone
If you don't have a partner to help, it's still possible to move a hive alone. Watch this video from Anne Frey for how to do it on your own.
Moving a bee hive long distances
The same basic steps apply for long-distance moves of more than three miles. Seal and secure your hives, move after the sun sets, and prioritize ventilation to keep the colonies from overheating.
The longer the bees rumble along with the trailer or pickup truck, the more agitated they may become. Drive carefully at moderate speeds to prevent too much jostling of the hives. As you are unloading the hives in the new location, you might consider keeping the engine of the vehicle running to soothe the bees.
Reorientation prompts do not need to be as elaborate as with short-distance moves, since the bees will be in a completely unfamiliar environment — a small obstacle near the entrance is plenty. Once your hives are placed, open the entrances.
Be patient: It may take a few days before your bees get used to their new home. Check the old location daily, collect any stragglers in a left-behind box, and bring them to the new area.
What happens to bees left behind when a hive is moved?
Moving hives after the sun sets helps ensure the forager bees have returned home for the night. However, stragglers may be left behind in a move. Collect these bees in a “left-behind box” and reunite them with the colony.
How to use a left-behind box
You can use any old box or nuc with drawn frames for your left-behind box, but avoid using frames with honey, which can attract robbers.
Place the nuc box on the old hive's location.
Strap this hive with a single ratchet strap so you can carry it.
When you move your hive, leave the left-behind box in its place. Late forager bees will return, find the left-behind box, and settle down as they would in the regular hive.
After moving the hives, return for the left-behind box, seal the entrance, and bring it to the new hive.
Place the left-behind box opening at the hive entrance and let the bees find their way out, or use a triangle bee escape board to encourage straggler bees to rejoin the colony.
Repeat this process for a few days as needed. Some bees may never get the memo, but almost all will.
Whether you’re moving a hive 30 feet across a field or four miles (or more) across town, get ready with these tips. With plenty of preparation, an eye on safety, and strong helpers, you can get your bees across the yard or across the state. Explore our Beginner’s Beekeeping Guide for more expert advice.
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