Rehoming bees is a very tedious and long process. The beekeeper has to make arrangements for the bees to turn it into their new home. You have to make their new house as homely as possible.
Honey Bees are making a comeback ever since they were declared as endangered early in 2016. The Washington Post published an article analyzing the issue surrounding honeybees. A couple of organizations was established to support the cause of saving the bees. These organizations helped bee farmers in terms of education and financial situations. Some went out of their way to educate the people on the important role of honeybees to our ecosystem.
Bees can be rehomed, however leaving an empty beehive by itself will never attract bees.It is important to go through different kinds of procedure that will attract them to the hive.
Let the bees swarm, keep them warm
According to a website called Bee Buzzer, these are the steps that you should take in order to attract bees to an empty beehive:
1. Put the empty beehive closer to the other occupied hives
Worker bees tend to explore other hives. By keeping them 200 meters or 300 meters from the other hive, you have a higher chance of working bees migrating into the empty hive.
2. Monitoring the beehives and the empty hives
There is a clear indication if the swarm has moved in or not, working bees who decided to make their empty hive their home will carry pollen into the hive. However, if the working bees are not carrying pollen then it means that the working bees are most probably just “house hunting.”
3. Using baits to capture the bees
Since bees are not easy to coax into an empty hive, you may use baits to make their new home more “homey” to them.
4. Wait for the bees to settle in, don’t move the beehive right away
You have to give the bees ample time to settle in, more or less 2 weeks after they’ve started bringing pollen into the hive. You should be careful because moving them abruptly might frighten them and cause them to look for another hive to take shelter in. If you wanna keep them in the box, follow these procedure to ensure success in moving the swarm into the box as directed by Bee Buzzer, a beekeeping website:
- Gradually move the hive day to day, always keep a maximum distance to move the hive each day. Bees locate their hive through sight. At least move the beehive not more than 3 feet. If you move the hive for more than 3 feet, eventually the bees will not locate the hive and die.
- You should move the bait by the same distance relative to the positioning of the beehive
- Don’t move the hive in the morning, start moving them by the evening so that the bees will stay inside the hive
- The best time to move the bees and beehive is when they are not flying. Winter is probably the best season to move the bees since they do not fly and go out during the winter like other insects.
Baiting the bees
There are a lot of ways to make the empty hive more attractive to the bees, one of which is baiting. Below is a list of dependable baits that will make your hive enticing to your honeybees:
1. Beeswax
This is by far the most effective and lasting among the baits. You can rub a small cake of beeswax into the inner walls of the hive that will encourage the bees to visit and check the hive. Beeswax rubbed against the top bar will encourage the swarm to build their combs along it.
2. Lavender
You can spray or sprinkle lavender essence into the beehive, bees are very attracted to lavender.
- Lime
According to Ken Thompson, a Telegraph UK writer, “clusters of highly scented yellowish flowers are narcotic to bees”. Although several limes are on the RHS “perfect for pollinators” list.” You can leave lime juice in the hive to attract the swarm.
Common Questions
What is the perfect weather and season to rehome bees?
It is best to divide the task per season. Since the spring is when the honeybees are most active. It is also the perfect season to gradually rehome your bees. This is also the time where the bees will make more honey in order to survive winter.
Why do bees leave their hives?
According to a website called Bee Keeping Like A Girl, “Absconding is when the bees completely abandon their hive. All or almost all of the bees leave the hive along with the queen. They may leave behind young bees, who cannot fly, unhatched brood and pollen. This is an indication that something is wrong. Bees can abscond for a number of reasons, the most common being: lack of forage, ant invasion or a heavy mite load.” They are also rather picky in choosing their new homes, bees will leave the hive is located somewhere without flowers or plants or if it’s an area that is heavily populated by other bee/hive-destroying insects such as hornets and mites.
How do you keep bees from leaving their hives?
Even though the bees are comfortable in their new home, they can abscond anytime. So to prevent it from happening, here are some ways to keep your bees inside the hive:
- Control interior temperatures
- Situate the hive somewhere that they can’t be bothered by strong gushes of wind
- Provide ventilation
- Destroy colonies of bee and hive destroying insects
- Protect and monitor the bee hive every day
