Hives get moved more often than non beekeepers imagine. Colonies go out to a farm for pollination, come back from an out apiary, get relocated when a landowner changes their mind, or simply need shifting because a site has stopped working. Beekeeping van hire is a request we take through spring and summer from association members and smallholders across the area, and it is a job where the driving matters as much as the loading. Arranging van hire in Warrington for a colony move is easy enough, but the timing is not negotiable.
Move at Dusk or Not at All
The rule every beekeeper knows and every helper needs telling is that hives move when the flying bees are home, which means after dusk or before first light. Move a hive in the middle of a warm afternoon and you leave a cloud of foragers behind at the old site with nowhere to return to. That single constraint shapes everything else about the booking, because it means the van is being loaded in poor light by people wearing veils. Have everything staged and ready before dark rather than starting then, and make sure whoever is helping understands the sequence before anyone puts a suit on. Working out a plan by torchlight next to a sealed hive is not the moment for a discussion.
Sealing Up Without Cooking the Colony
Hives are strapped as a unit so the boxes cannot separate, and the entrance is closed with mesh or foam rather than anything solid. Ventilation is the thing that matters most. A sealed colony in a warm enclosed space generates a surprising amount of heat, and a hive that overheats in transit can be lost entirely. Use a mesh travel screen if you have one, keep the journey short, and never leave a loaded van standing in sunlight with the doors shut. If you are moving several colonies, space them so air can move between them rather than packing them tight against each other.
Choosing a Body You Can Work Inside
Hives are placed rather than stacked, and they need to sit flat and upright with room around them. Being able to step into the load space and set each one down deliberately, in the dark, wearing gloves, is worth far more than raw capacity. The short wheelbase medium roof van suits most small scale moves well, giving standing height to work in while staying easy to manoeuvre down a farm track. Everything we run sits within three and a half tonnes gross vehicle weight and is driveable on a standard category B car licence.
Securing Hives So Nothing Tips
A hive is top heavy and full of comb that will break if the box is knocked hard. Strap each one to the vehicle rather than only to itself, keep them on the floor rather than on anything raised, and orient the frames so they run front to back in the direction of travel. Frames running side to side swing against each other under braking and can crush bees or break comb. Do not stack anything on top of a hive, however light, and leave yourself a clear path to reach every colony without climbing over another one.
Driving and the Last Hundred Yards
Drive gently and take the smooth route rather than the short one. Farm tracks and field gateways are the roughest part of most apiary moves and they come at the very end when you are tired. Walk the route in daylight beforehand if you possibly can, so you know where the ruts and the gateposts are before you are doing it in the dark with a load of bees. Beekeepers moving colonies out towards Winwick van hire bookings and the farmland north of town often find the last hundred yards takes longer than the drive itself.
Booking the Van Around Daylight
This is the practical wrinkle. Our depot on Tilley Street at the main entrance to Cockhedge Shopping Centre beside Asda is open Monday to Saturday from 8am until 4pm and closed on Sunday, and in late spring dusk falls well after we shut. That means collecting the van during the day, doing the move that evening, and returning it the following morning. Plan for that rather than assuming an evening collection is possible. Bring your photocard licence and a DVLA check code, there is no deposit on most of our vehicles, and free secure parking on site means your car can stay here. Anything else you want to check is likely covered on our van hire FAQs.
Settling the Colony at the New Site
Getting the hives there is only half of it. Open the entrances as soon as the hives are level and in position rather than leaving them shut while you tidy up, because a sealed colony that has just been driven is already stressed. Have the stands set and levelled before the van arrives so you are not improvising with bricks in the dark. Bees reorient on their first flight from a new site, so a move of less than three miles risks foragers navigating back to the old location, which is the reason for the traditional advice about moving either a very short distance or a long one. If you are working within that awkward middle range, a temporary relocation or a branch across the entrance to force reorientation is worth planning for. Check the colonies in daylight the following day rather than assuming all is well.
Tell us how many colonies you are moving and roughly when, and we will work out the collection and return around the light. Call the depot on 01925 396 222 to book your dates.
