Slugs in hives

[The Drone Ranger]

Alternatively get the hives on wooden stands and use grease bands on the legs?

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

I have all mine on 12 -14" high stands and it never occurred to me they could be on the ground
Good idea
Slugs like it when folk use the sugar dusting for varroa
They have a sweet tooth (actually they don't have teeth )

[gavin]

Slugs like it when folk use the sugar dusting for varroa

That's an excellent line to use to try to get folk to stop pussying about with ineffective Varroa control and use something that will actually help get your bees through the winter.

Sent from my BlackBerry 8520 using Tapatalk

[Dark Bee]

I have all mine on 12 -14" high stands and it never occurred to me they could be on the ground
Good idea
Slugs like it when folk use the sugar dusting for varroa
They have a sweet tooth (actually they don't have teeth )

Hive stands also help to prevent hives being toppled by the wind in areas of severe exposure, i.e. the western sea board of Ireland, where the next parish is in New York or Newfoundland. There needs to be about 12"of space beneath the hive to allow the wind to blow through and then the number of concrete blocks on the roof can be reduced substantially!!!
There is a caveat, the legs of the stand need to splay outwards in the ratio of approx. 1:4. If the legs are vertical, the problem will be exacerbated.

[Jon]

Don't kid yourself DB. They can blow off stands as well. We had two blown clean off the stand at the association apiary after a storm in May a couple of years ago.
They are solid stands as well.

Minnowburn queen rearing1.jpg prime genetic material.jpg

[Finno]

Probably leopard slugs - fairly harmless but repulsive. I had one hive in a damp location and shaded by sycamore which was continually infested, even though it was raised on knee-high wooden stand. I flicked them out at each inspection, but they would be there again when I would next open up.
This from wikipedia probably explains their ability to return ...
"The homing faculty is strongly developed in this species, which, after its nocturnal rambles or foraging expeditions, usually returns to the particular crevice or chink in which it has established itself.[4]
Limax maximus is capable of associative learning, specifically classical conditioning, because it is capable of aversion learning and other types of learning.[16][17] They can also detect that there are deficiencies in a nutritionally incomplete diet, if the essential amino acid methionine is experimentally removed from their food.[18]"

[Jon]

At my apiary I flick the slugs over the railway fence on to the track so that hopefully they get mashed by the Belfast - Dublin express.
Anything sticking to the side of a train will end up within the Pale do DB had better be vigilant.

[Dark Bee]

Don't kid yourself DB. They can blow off stands as well. We had two blown clean off the stand at the association apiary after a storm in May a couple of years ago.
They are solid stands as well.

Minnowburn queen rearing1.jpg prime genetic material.jpg

I'm not trying to mislead myself or anyone else. Of course hives will blow off stands, unless they are loaded down with concrete blocks.
What I said was; if a hive is positioned on a stand with splayed, not upright legs, it's stability will be substantially increased. But as always others must use what they deem to be most appropiate for their individual situations. Believe me the mathematical proof is tedious and boring, think for a start .......when a lever is balanced ........... fulcrum ....................principle of moments.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Hive stands also help to prevent hives being toppled by the wind in areas of severe exposure ... There is a caveat, the legs of the stand need to splay outwards in the ratio of approx. 1:4. If the legs are vertical, the problem will be exacerbated.

And there I was wanting to lower my hives as a precaution against wind - but then, I'm not that scared of them being blown over. The stands have cross bars at the bottom that I weigh down, then I strap the hives to the stands. I'm more worried about freeze-dried bees. Do you have solid floors, DB?

Alternatively get the hives on wooden stands and use grease bands on the legs?

Searching for advice about grease bands led me to this site with lots of ideas.
Kitta

[Dark Bee]

.................................................. ..... Do you have solid floors, DB?.
Kitta

I find omf's a receipe for disaster in the wintertime - I leave the tray in place, enough draught gets around the edges to keep the floor area dry and moisture which would ordinarily collect on the floor gets drained harmlessly away. In the spring time the bees are spread over the brood combs, but with an omf they are usually up against the quilt.
I appreciate that in other areas experiences may be quite different - what have you found in your apiary?

[Mellifera Crofter]

... what have you found in your apiary?

I haven't noticed how bees behave with, or without, omf on my hill, DB, because, apart from my first year or two as a beekeeper, I now just keep the varroa trays in over winter with a few holes drilled in them (and I even worry about those holes as well). But what I have seen is how fierce the wind can be up here. It can force its way into areas where I would have thought it impossible - so what chance to the bees have with a big huge open floor underneath them. I lost only one hive out of eleven this winter - maybe keeping the varroa trays in helped them.

Kitta