# Positioning Multiple Hives



## Binnie (Feb 26, 2016)

My wife and I started our first hive last spring, and it appears to have survived winter. Encouraged by this we are going to add a second hive. Is there any guidance on how hives should be positioned in relation to one another.

Should they not be 1 in front of the other, is side by side better, does it not really matter?

Thanks,
Binnie


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## brettj777 (Feb 27, 2013)

I always go side by side. it's easier to work them from behind. And the flight paths are all in teh same direction. but i don't think its essential that they all face the same way, I have seen alot of really haphazard bee yards on the Internet!


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Well, mine are on pallets touching each other. and facing two different directions.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

With just a few hives in a yard I like to keep them spaced out a little bit, side by side, facing the same direction. I prefer to have enough room between the hives so I'm able to easily mow the grass between them, and have plenty of room to set down boxes and equipment.

There's no set rules to follow. What ever you prefer.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

Mine are side by side facing the same direction and pretty close to each other. For me, the direction is important due to the position towards the early morning sun. Never had a problem.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

Its harder to work the hive from behind and hard to see as your working over the hive. leave plenty of room to work from the side. groups of two is very common.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

All of mine are side by side and I always work them from the side. A lot less awkward than working them from behind.


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## Scpossum (May 4, 2014)

Early morning sun gets a two hour jump in my other two facing away from the sun this time of year. Wouldnt have thought it was that much, but in my yard it is true. Mine are very close together side by side. At the farm they are two per pallet, with a litlle gap between the pallets.


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## exmar (Apr 30, 2015)

Mine are about three feet apart, separate bases, facing East, works well. Personally, I like the hive entrances all on the same side, so I can easily observe what they're doing when walking by without having to walk around. JMHO.


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## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

Binnie said:


> My wife and I started our first hive last spring, and it appears to have survived winter. Encouraged by this we are going to add a second hive. Is there any guidance on how hives should be positioned in relation to one another.
> 
> Should they not be 1 in front of the other, is side by side better, does it not really matter?
> 
> ...


Unfortunately, like many areas of bee rearing, there is a lot more diffusion of information from intuition than from science on this basic subject. I like many others see bees getting started earlier in the day when the hive entrance is oriented toward the southeast quadrant. There seems to me to be a little offsetting loss of activity in the evening, but I have not heard much about it from others, and I have not seen any science on it. Swarm traps with a southern orientation appear to do better than those with a northern orientation. That may be due to either or both temperature regulation or early light. I have seen natural hives facing all different directions. I have not kept records.

In harsh winter climates, there is an insulation advantage to having hives side by side. There is a working convenience advantage to having room between hives to set boxes and tools. In rows of multiple hives, there is drifting toward one or both of the end hives. This can sometimes be used to an advantage. But drifting may increase the spread of parasites and disease. Dr. Seeley has some science supporting at least 60 feet spacing between hives in unmanaged settings. I tend to try to learn from the bees, but working hives that are 60 feet apart is probably too much sugar for a dime.


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## Galaxie (May 13, 2015)

And for another perspective, V.R. Vickery recommended arranging hives in an arc with the centerline aligned with the sun to minimize drifting. The idea is to have clearly defined angles relative to the sun to help foragers return to the correct hive. The downside of course is it takes up more space.
With that in mind, his other proposed method was to arrange four hives in a block with each entrance facing a different direction. The downside with this method is that one entrance will face north or close to it.


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

I number, mark, and train all my bees to return to the correct box. Drift? Are you catching my drift? lol 

But seriously I have my hives all facing eastward. If the bees drift, they're going to drift. Not too concerned because I'm vigilant and treat for mites. Watch for diseases and will quarantine a diseased hive hasty quick by moving it 5 miles away.


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## frustrateddrone (Jan 31, 2015)

My 3 hives are spaced more then a bee hive apart for a reason. When I remove a box, I have a space on the stand to put it. Of coarse my stand is 32" off the ground, so I don't have back issues lifting boxes. Real convenient to think ahead down the road. So you have 2 touching each other then you have space, but what if you have robbing. It's much easier to distinguish in my opinion what is going on with 24" or so between the bee hives.


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## tazke (Mar 23, 2015)

frustrateddrone said:


> My 3 hives are spaced more then a bee hive apart for a reason. When I remove a box, I have a space on the stand to put it. Of coarse my stand is 32" off the ground, so I don't have back issues lifting boxes. .



I am doing that same thing this year. I would rather build more stands than pick up boxes. 4 back surgeries with L1 to S1 fused. Only get so many bend overs a day.


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

Riverderwent said:


> Unfortunately, like many areas of bee rearing, there is a lot more diffusion of information from intuition than from science on this basic subject. I like many others see bees getting started earlier in the day when the hive entrance is oriented toward the southeast quadrant. There seems to me to be a little offsetting loss of activity in the evening, but I have not heard much about it from others, and I have not seen any science on it. Swarm traps with a southern orientation appear to do better than those with a northern orientation. That may be due to either or both temperature regulation or early light. I have seen natural hives facing all different directions. I have not kept records.


I have recently been reading some studies, with a couple of interesting points- one claim is that feral bees seem to prefer trees that have an opening facing South, and another that DCAs seem to be oriented on South facing slopes.

Various guesses were put forth as to why this might be, but the 'why' of it is less important to me than the observation that these orientations occur.

Most of my hives face either South or East, and are separated by about 35' distance...which is derived from the fact that I am planting an orchard in this area and that is the recommended distance between [standard size] apple trees on Antonovka rootstock. The hives will be interspersed among the trees.

I am starting to double up in locations because the hives are getting numerous enough that it is more of a time consumer to move between them. In doubled locations one entrance faces South and the other East.

Unfortunately, when I started, I began putting them on the SE side of the field where they are shaded in the morning and get full sun in the evening. Now I feel that should be reversed but it's going to be a PITA to switch it around.


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## buzzincurt (Feb 19, 2016)

WHAT IS ANYONES THOUGHT ON 8 PALLETS OF BEES ON A TRAILER DURING RASBERRY AND STRAWBERRY POLLINATION ( ABOUT 40 ACRES) FOR ABOUT 6 WEEKS BEFORE MOVING TO ANOTHER PLACE FOR HONEY FLOW


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## DirtyLittleSecret (Sep 10, 2014)

MY THOUGHT IS YOUR BEES WILL DO BETTER IF YOU'RE NOT YELLING AT THEM ALL THE TIME! I THINK IT COULD BE DONE ON TRAILER OR PALLET. LOTS OF PEOPLE DO IT.



buzzincurt said:


> WHAT IS ANYONES THOUGHT ON 8 PALLETS OF BEES ON A TRAILER DURING RASBERRY AND STRAWBERRY POLLINATION ( ABOUT 40 ACRES) FOR ABOUT 6 WEEKS BEFORE MOVING TO ANOTHER PLACE FOR HONEY FLOW


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

I do like to face mine to the morning sun. They wake and get after it earlier than the lazy bums facing the other direction. A little shade from the mid/late day sun is good too.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Mine are all touching...
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/Hives1.jpg


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## mrobinson (Jan 20, 2012)

I have several top bar hives under a tree, all facing outward in a semicircle, creating a convenient and bee-free work area in the middle.


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## Matt_inSC (May 12, 2015)

(I'm a newbie (almost one year in) so keep that in mind...)

Mine are currently side-by-side, facing the same direction, and about 6" apart. I'm about to move them to a better sun spot in the yard and will also be separating them a bit - maybe 3 feet or so between theem. My reasoning is:
1. I think I'm getting a good bit of "drift" as the right side hive seems to stay stronger - even after a location swap last summer.
2. More space would allow for an easier work area beside both hives. The 6" spacing doesn't allow for much to be placed between them, etc.
3. While I don't think separating the hives the inches/feet I plan to do on this move would help on this, some of my reading mentions (and I don't want to stir up a debate here, but...) that honeybees naturally do not occupy hives in close proximity in the wild. With that in mind, it would be hard for many of us to obtain a big separation between hives for lots of reasons. The factor that hit home for me was the possible sharing of illnesses (mites, etc.). While I recognize bees from colony A will literally bump into bees from colony B at a food source, etc. and could exchange illnesses there, having the hives inches apart (*IMO*) has to increase the likelihood of one colony causing the "infestation" of others.

Lastly, on a practical note, my hives are currently (and will be after the 20 yard move) placed so I can work them from behind. A neighbor has them backed up against a wall and thus has to work them from the front. I've done some hive checks with him and by the end his bees seem way more stirred up than mine. It seems being in their flight path causes more of a ruckus.


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## dott (Aug 1, 2015)

if I have a row of 6 hives facing due south how for behind this row should I start another row of hives


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