HELP! Newbie Moving 9 Hives 150 Miles

[ssmeester]

Hi Everyone,

My Hubby has 9 hives. This is his second year as a beekeeper and he has learned alot through trial and error. Now we are moving 150 miles. How in the world do we move 9 hives? Some are 2 boxes high while others are 5 medium boxes high. We know the basics, tie them up, block the entrance and move, but if anyone has any "been there, done that" advice, we'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks,
Sandra

[TxMex]

The first thing to do is condense all the hives down to no more than 2 deeps. If it was me and I had a few weeks and a queen excluder, I'd condense the brood nest down to just one super deep.

I also recommend moving them at night.....and leave an empty hive in your current bee yard to collect all the strays. Sometimes the 'strays' will amount to quite a few bees.

Edited to add: This is one of the few times that I would use a queen excluder. There are very few situations where I feel they are of any use, but this would be one of them.

[alleyyooper]

2 deeps or 3 mediums or shallows. Close them up after dark when it is cool and they are all in the hive. Tie them down well so they don't tip over. I personly would use some furing strips to fasten the stack of hives and the bottom boards together.

Al

[arnie]

Yes definatly at night adrill driver to screw a strip of wood on the sides to hold them together use screen wire to cover the intrance to allow air in .get everything ready at each end leave a emty hive with a feeder and get the workers that were out the next day moveing them at night also helps keeping them cool

[ssmeester]

Thank you for the great advice.