It's hard to move with a beehive.

Good news! The friend who invited me to bring an observation hive to the farmer's market sold her house, something that isn't easy to do with the way things are now. The bad news is that she won't be in town anymore and she can't take her bees with her! She asked if I would take the hive and I gladly accepted, since I just lost a hive I had an empty spot in the yard and one slot free according to city ordnance.

I've moved hives before but never one this large. I took some empty equipment and made sure I could fit it in the car somehow. The hive would be 2 deeps and 1 medium so I stacked up 4 mediums with a top and bottom to see if it would fit. Nope! As you can see on the left the stack is about 3" too tall. At least I can close the back most of the way with it in there. Well, at least more than half way.

A beehive is best moved at night. Since bees navigate by sunlight when the sun is down they are inside the hive. If you move a hive during the day all of the foragers are out working and return home to a surprise, no home! This late in the year it would be hard for a hive to recover from losing their foragers like that so I decided to move at night. A head lamp is a must in that situation so you can see what you're doing but still use both hands. The trouble is that bees, like many insects, are attracted to bright lights like that. To keep bees from flying towards my head as I worked I use a red light. Bees can't see red very well (some reds are invisible to them!) it helps keep things calm when I'm working. In the red photo to the right you can see the magic of moving a hive: stuff a cloth in the openings and put some tape over it. If you did it right you get to drive to the new location without bees flying around in your car. Bonus!

My friend helped me load the bees into the car which was good because the hive probably weighs about 150 lbs. Unfortunately (and fortunately!) this hive was fancier than the ones I'm used to. It has a nice peaked copper roof which was hitting directly on the glass of my car's rear door! Also, being another few inches taller, the door wasn't closing much at all. Turing it sideways helped and I could get the back closed far enough so a bungee cord would reach. Good enough! Luckily I only had about a mile to drive (yes, I broke that beekeeping rule) and there wasn't much traffic at 10pm. My friend said goodbye to her bees and I drove the bees to their new home, learning that an open hatch causes a powerful wind tunnel as you drive along with your windows open. I got the bees to my house and then unloaded them. I got the job done but there were a few close calls! I'll definitely add this to the list of things I shouldn't have done alone.

I moved the bees to their new spot in the yard and let them sit for about 30 minutes before opening the entrance. It was good I waited as they got a little upset while they got bumped around during the move but it was also good I didn't wait too long, as soon as I did open the hive the workers instantly began fanning the entrance to cool the hive off. When bees get bumped around like that they end up creating quite a bit of heat and the hive was hot! If I had left them closed until morning like I was considering the hive probably wouldn't have survived. Close call! On the right you can see the six hives in my back yard. Try and count them if you want, one is a little hard to find. The new hive doesn't quite fit in but I'm very glad to have it. I'll give it a good inspection soon to make sure it doesn't have any nasty disease and to ensure they are prepared for the coming winter. At only 150 lbs the hive might not have enough honey and we're on our last round of flowers for the year.