Relocating Bees

Session 5

Relocating Bees

Relocating a colony of Honeybees is quite simple when you do it right by the bees.

It can also lead to disaster.

A few things need to be taken into consideration to reduce stress on the bees and to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Everything valid about relocating managed beehives is also applicable when relocating a feral bee colony, e.g. bees in a possum box.

Relocating a captured bee swarm is much simpler:
A bee swarm has "forgotten" were it came from and the bees of a swarm "reset their navigation system" once they are in a new location.

Therefore, having captured a swarm, no rules apply for the relocation. It can even be placed close to the home it emerged from; the bees recognise their new hive location and will not get disorientated or confused being near to their original location, even if it is only a metre away.

This only applies when the captured swarm is getting relocated within 2 days of capture, before the swarm starts establishing their capture location as their new home.

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