Hi there everyone

[mbc]

Hi FS, thanks for your observations .....

Firstly if its that bad you better buy a boat
Secondly these hive stands are not going to be used for hives standing on when working they will be on lower hive stands or pallets (have been looking at plastic ones) they stack in each other so don't take up much room and are light... But yes you are correct they could topple over if there were only two hives one on each side BUT then again these hive stands were built to take 3 hives so that would not happen if used correctly

Be aware with plastic pallets that flat areas without holes accumulate dead bees and they rot and stink. Took me a while to figure out the problem when going through a friends apiary, from several yards away my nose told me I was approaching bee apocalypse, only to find the colonies were fine but the problem was the pallets. This doesnt seem to happen with wooden pallets, probably because they drain better and air can get to detritus allowing it to decompose properly.

[gwizzie]

Do you mean those tripple stands are only winter stands? Or are you going to move each hive down in turn to a lower stand when inspecting them?

You can keep the set-up and save the stands from toppling by weighting them down with sandbags slung over the lower struts. I do that with all my stands.

Attachment 2665

Kitta

Hi Kitta, many thanks for the tip
That know has me thinking lol as sand bags would be a lot easier to work with and cheaper in the long run.... Where did you get your's from if you don't mind me asking ?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Hi Kitta, many thanks for the tip
That know has me thinking lol as sand bags would be a lot easier to work with and cheaper in the long run.... Where did you get your's from if you don't mind me asking ?

I was lucky. My neighbour used the bags to hold down huge sheets of polythene that covered his worm-beds, but he packed up his worm-farming - so now I can just nip down and get some bags ready-filled with gravel. I don't know where he got his bags from. I'll ask him when I next see him - but a quick search on Google for sandbags gave a lot of results.

Before I used sandbags, I used to put a plank across the bottom of the stands from one strut to the other and weight it down heavy stones. That did the trick as well.

Kitta

[gwizzie]

Hi Kitta,

sorry for late reply been kinda busy just now!!! I have had a look about and found that you can get them on ebay for a few ££ so it won't break the bank!! When I do need them I will take up your advise and load them with gravel rather than sand .

[Mellifera Crofter]

I asked my neighbour about the source of his sandbags, Gwizzie, because they are particularly good, strong, and weather-resistant. He said they were made by Secure Covers to keep sileage covers down (instead of tyres). They should be able to tell you about distributors near you. This is another company with similar strong bags.

Kitta

[gwizzie]

I asked my neighbour about the source of his sandbags, Gwizzie, because they are particularly good, strong, and weather-resistant. He said they were made by Secure Covers to keep sileage covers down (instead of tyres). They should be able to tell you about distributors near you. This is another company with similar strong bags.

Kitta

Hi Kitta, thank you very much for taking the time to supply the links, they do look exactly what I have been looking for.

[gwizzie]

Well its been awhile since posting due to work and looking after bees lol.... Well the weather has been very kind to me up here and the hives that I have at the heather are doing very well for my first year. Here are a few pictures for you showing how there doing I hope you like ?
They have started filling their second box now so fingers crossed, I have a few frames in each hive marked for cut comb with thin foundation.
IMG_0571.jpgIMG_0572.jpgIMG_0573.jpgIMG_0574.jpg

[Kate Atchley]

...Well the weather has been very kind to me up here and the hives that I have at the heather are doing very well for my first year. ... I have a few frames in each hive marked for cut comb with thin foundation.
IMG_0571.jpgIMG_0572.jpgIMG_0573.jpgIMG_0574.jpg

The frames look splendid gwizzie. I wonder why they aren't all on thin foundation, or starter strips?

Good luck if you're planning to extract the heather honey. I haven't found a good method (on a small scale) of agitating it to make it liquid enough to extract fully despite trying lots of so-called "looseners". They have loosener more frustration from me than heather honey from the depth of the cells!

[Greengage]

Kate Ia m curious how can you tell by looking at the pics that they are not on thin foundation or starter strips. tks.

[Feckless Drone]

Nice looking frames, alot of good honey there to enjoy.