How Long Do Bees Stay in a Hive? (Answered)

by Alex Kountry
Updated on

If you ever wondered how long do bees stay in a hive, then you should read this article to the end.

Bees are one of the most fascinating creatures with questionable characteristics.

They are intelligent and greatly depended upon their numbers to hit great milestones, such as creating their food and building their home – a hive.

Building a hive is one of the most significant things bees do during their lifestyle.

Once they succeed in having a home, it becomes a foundation upon which they achieve other significant objectives such as giving birth, traveling in groups, and making their food.

Bees are never in a haste to live their home and relocate elsewhere. They will remain there for several months, as long as they are not threatened by humans or wild animals that eat honey.

What’s the lifecycle of a bee in a hive?

How Long Do Bees Stay in a Hive

The lifecycle of bees in a hive is affected by many factors.

Originally, the intention of a bee is to lay its eggs in a hive, and when the eggs hatch and becoming developing bees, they are taught how to live and survive in the hive.

But sadly, this plan doesn’t work out perfectly well all the time. The lifecycle of a bee can be disrupted when the hive is being hunted by humans or wild animals for honey.

In a situation such as this, the laid eggs could perish as the adult bees try to defend themselves or run for safety.

Once a hive is abandoned by a group of bees, they travel to a different location where they would build a new home and complete their lifecycle.

How long does a beehive stay in one place?

A beehive can remain in its place for about a year and even beyond that. As long as the beehive isn’t hunted or abandoned by the bees that built it, it doesn’t move away from its place.

The only thing that destroys a beehive is when it’s being abandoned by the owners.

Bees tend to forget about their home if they travel very far or face threats.

And once a hive is abandoned by a swarm of bees, no other group of bees inhabits the hive.

This is how and why a beehive perishes.

Do beehives go away

A beehive will definitely not remain in its place the moment there are no bees to live in it.

Once bees leave a hive and move to a different location to establish a new colony, the abandoned hive will only last for a few months, after which it begins to deteriorate and eventually falls off.

Beehives will certainly go away when bees consider them not to be habitable.

How do you get bees to leave a hive?

You can’t literally chase bees out of their hive easily. You could get really hurt or even killed by their stings in the course of trying to do this.

Nevertheless, there are a few simple methods that can help you achieve this objective without subjecting yourself to danger.

Bees aren’t comfortable with fire or heat around their habitat. In other words, just a little fire could potentially chase them away from their home.

If you can devise a safe way to create fire around the tree in which the hive is built, the bees definitely move out to find a safer environment.

It’s important, however, that you ensure you are well protected if you would have to move close go to the hive when doing this.

The bees could get aggressive and attack you. If you are not well shielded from their attacks, it could be very dangerous for you.

Do bees return to the same hive every year?

Once a swarm of bees leaves a hive after spending several months there, chances are that they are not returning back.

They will simply move to a different location and create a new colony.

Bees do not use more than a year in a hive. And when they eventually decide to take their leave, they are not coming back.

Changing location is very crucial to the well-being of bees. The moment they don’t feel comfortable or safe in a habitat, they won’t remain there.

Remaining in a hive they no longer like will affect their productivity when it comes to laying eggs and producing food.

Moreover, if bees can no longer find water or food close to their habitat, they will definitely consider relocating, after which they ain’t returning back.

Will a swarm of bees return to the hive?

When a hive is abandoned, that’s the end of its existence.

A different swarm of bees won’t move into the hive. It’s never in the nature of bees to move into a home that has been abandoned.

Typically, bees find fulfillment in occupying a hive that is built by them.

They get to enjoy the sense of ownership belonging when they live in a hive originally built by them.

Besides, it’s in their nature to always build a new home each time they relocate and form a new colony.

How long do bees live without a hive?

Asking how long bees live without a hive is like asking how long can humans survive without depending on oxygen.

If all the beehives in the world are destroyed right now, bees would have not choice but to build new ones as soon as they can.

The existence of bees is dependent on their home. It’s impossible for bees to survive without a hive.

As a matter of fact, these aggressive insects spend more time and perform more activities in their hive than they do outside their home.

More importantly, bees can’t be productive if they don’t have a place to live in.

They can’t lay eggs, produce honey, and even have a powerful colony when there is no hive to live in.

This is the reason why bees are quick to build a new home after abandoning their initial home.

They simply depend on the hive for survival.

Conclusion

It is ideal for anyone who admires the beauty of bees to understand how the insects survive and how valuable their home is to them.

As aquatic animals are unable to survive without water, bees too have a very minute survival rate without their hive.

But fortunately, the good news is that even when bees are being chased out from their initial home, they don’t struggle to build another one in time.

They work with speed and unity, which helps them to achieve their objectives successfully.

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About the author

Alex Kountry

Alex Kountry is the founder of HayFarmGuy and has been a backyard farmer for over 10 years. Since then he has decided to write helpful articles that will help you become a better backyard farmer and know what to do. He also loves to play tennis and read books

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