How long till split can return to apiary?

[Aroc]

I know some will say the two mile rule isn?t necessary.  Maybe, maybe not but let?s assume for this discussion that it?s necessary.

How long till a split that has been taken to another location can return to the home apiary?  I?ve typically heard two weeks but can it be done sooner?

[Van, Arkansas, USA]

A million years.  Just poking fun at Ace, I hear two weeks, is safe to return split.

[Acebird]

A million years.  Just poking fun at Ace,

LOL!  I wasn't thinking that long.  Just until all the bees are dead that used to live at the old location.  If you bring the split back the bees (the ones that were alive at the old location) will have to learn the new location and in so doing will come to the old location first.  So why not just leave the split nearby and let them learn right off the bat?  What goes to another hive goes to another hive.  Just put more bees in your split to make up for the drift.

[yes2matt]

Big dummy here:

Why do you need two weeks? A forager that  reoriented yesterday can't reorient again today?

And while we're on the topic, what is it about "two miles" that triggers a reorientation; why won't a half mile do the trick?


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[Aroc]

And while we're on the topic, what is it about "two miles" that triggers a reorientation; why won't a half mile do the trick?


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 I believe the 2 mile rule is due to the fact that he?s normally only fly a mile and a half in any direction for foraging. Putting them beyond that causes them to re-orient back to the second location.

[Michael Bush]

>why won't a half mile do the trick?

If you catch any forager at the entrance, mark them and take them 1 1/2 miles away they will fly directly back to the hive as you can see if someone is watching the entrance where you caught the foragers.  If you move the hive 1 1/2 miles or less away, all the foragers will return to the old location.  They fly out to forage, they see familiar landmarks and they fly directly back to the old location.  If you take them two miles or more away they don't see familiar landmarks.  Even if you move them 10 feet for the rest of their lives the foragers (all of whom will be dead in three weeks) will fly back to the old location, make a turn and go to the new location.

[Acebird]

And while we're on the topic, what is it about "two miles" that triggers a reorientation; why won't a half mile do the trick?

It will but you will get more drift.  It is not a big deal really.  I would much rather have the foragers drift to my own apiary then someone else's 3 miles away.  Foragers do their job no matter what hive they are in.  So if you split a hive and the foragers move back to the original just steal the honey they collect and give it to the hive that lost foragers.  You can even steal nurse bees while you are at it.  You don't have to follow all the rules as a back yard beek.

[Beeboy01]

I've never moved a split away from the yard, just make sure you have a lot of house bees and brood in it. The house bees from the split will start flying in two or three days and orientate to the new location in bee yard.

[beepro]

You can do it in one week.  Because I've read that bees can only remember things in that 3 days time frame.  Maybe due to their small brains short term memory issue.  The job I'm at now has program my brains to delete infos within a second--data overload if not.  Talk about short term memory issue.  If this 3 days time frame is true then give it a week to move the hive back.
To compensate for the lost of foragers, just move the hive back to the original location where you made the split from.  Move the current hive to a nearby location with adequate hive population.   Then watch the foragers go in the hive that you just move back.  It does not has to be 1 or 2 miles away either.   This is call the "fly back" method.  Very useful for making splits within the same apiary.  I use it to recharge a weak hive.

[Michael Bush]

>Because I've read that bees can only remember things in that 3 days time frame.  Maybe due to their small brains short term memory issue.

They do tend to reorient if they are confined for 3 days.  But field bees for the rest of their life (three weeks from when they become a field bee) will continue to fly back to the old location and make a turn to the new location.  So they remember for 3 weeks (the rest of their lives).  Huber makes the observation that he put honey in the window in the fall and the next spring bees were in that window looking for honey that wasn't there.  That would be remembering from six months ago.

[beepro]

Very good Mr. Bush.   Now I remember now that last year I had an aggressive hive that took 2 weeks to get rid of the
foragers.  I moved this hive 7 minutes driving time from my apiary in an open field during the summer time.  They made a
new queen that I did not keep.  So foragers can remember their old location pass the 3 days mark.   Interesting!