Abelo metal adjustable stand

[Hachi]

Has anyone in the Nth Wilts area, say within an hour of Bath have one of these stands I can come to look at and take a few measurements please?

I want to be sure they're right for me before I buy some. At over £100/pair it needs to be right.

Anyone have any tips? eg how they've found them, whats the optimal length of timber you can use without the beam bowing under the summer weights of hives?

Thanks

 

[peterbees]

Here's a review from Black Mountain Honey

 

[Bluebell1985]

Here's a review from Black Mountain Honey

And on this link timber sizes are mentioned and you get another look at the stand.

 

[Hachi]

Thanks both but not really what I was asking.

 

[enrico]

I have never used one but I personally would only put a hive over each leg and one in the middle. It looks like 3x2 or something similar. I would definitely out the legs on slabs! Look good but very expensive compared with a few lengths of 4x2..... Or maybe not now!

 

[IndiBee]

Good grief. Visit your local tip and you will find plenty of things to recycle.

 

[Jimmy]

I have 5 of them, all with 2440mm length wood. I have one national hive width overhang on each side which gives room for two nationals between supports. In one apiary I have squeezed 6 x 6 frame nucs but some of these have top feeders rather than the Paynes style side feeder. In summer 2021 I had double brood hives with 4 or 5 supers and no problems with sagging. I was careful when taking the supers off that I did the hives on the outside first though.

I like them, i thought they were expensive at ~£80 each so may not go for any more though. They are considerably better than my botched efforts with breeze blocks and timber and more durable than stacked pallets.

Haughton Honey and Charles Austin, both Beefarmers and both on Twitter have them.
They use a two hive width piece of timber with no overhang.

 

[Amari]

I'm prone to SAD every winter with no beekeeping to keep me occupied. Thus I often keep myself busy by making hive stands.

 

[maddydog]

I've got a few sets of these and I find then pretty useful for taking the bees to heather. I paid 60 something a set, not sure I'd fork out 100.
If memory serves me I used 3*2 timbers and trimmed both ends down by approximately 50cm. The ends then slide into the stands and it's just about possible to get 3 nationals between the legs (oo-er) and one either side.

 

[maddydog]

One thing I do find triggering is the adjustment pins that have an annoying habit of sliding out causing the leg to fall on the floor when trying to get off the Moors before nightfall

 

[maddydog]

I'd probably be tempted to use at least 4*2 because on the heather 3 broods each with 2 mostly filled supers was enough to bow the timber quite a bit in the middle. If I was as fortunate as Mr nononsense I'd be very concerned with that amount of supers on each hive
Talking of whom, I don't know where he gets his timber from but if I made an entrance/stand with the stuff available around here I'd have so many entrances caused by warping the bees would be spoiled for choice (or dead to wasps)

 

[Hachi]

I have 5 of them, all with 2440mm length wood. I have one national hive width overhang on each side which gives room for two nationals between supports. In one apiary I have squeezed 6 x 6 frame nucs but some of these have top feeders rather than the Paynes style side feeder. In summer 2021 I had double brood hives with 4 or 5 supers and no problems with sagging. I was careful when taking the supers off that I did the hives on the outside first though.

I like them, i thought they were expensive at ~£80 each so may not go for any more though. They are considerably better than my botched efforts with breeze blocks and timber and more durable than stacked pallets.

Haughton Honey and Charles Austin, both Beefarmers and both on Twitter have them.
They use a two hive width piece of timber with no overhang.

PM'd you Jimmy

 

[Hachi]

£110 a pair now

 

[polymath]

I have about 5 on loan, great to move around and use. Very sturdy, would i buy them yes if i had to move bees to the heather or something and yes if I could not make simple stands on bricks and big bits of wood.

 

[mbc]

I think if I was to go about having these I'd want to go the whole hog and have them gold plated with ivory beams

 

[Hiveanidea]

These came off the back of a lorry….literally! The timber that is, used for supporting the delivery of some huge galvanised gratings for the Council. Driver said to me “any use to you?”….he went away with a large bite on both hands! I support them on roof slate with a concrete block bedded underneath.

 

[IndiBee]

My local tip is the only place I can take tetra paks. Every time I go there I come away with a wooden bed or two. The beams are very solid. Lick of paint, shorten the end struts and there you go. Admittedly the apiaries do look a bit odd, but the bees don't seem to care.

 

[Amari]

My local tip is the only place I can take tetra paks. Every time I go there I come away with a wooden bed or two. The beams are very solid. Lick of paint, shorten the end struts and there you go. Admittedly the apiaries do look a bit odd, but the bees don't seem to care.

Have you got a pic?

 

[enrico]

I'm prone to SAD every winter with no beekeeping to keep me occupied. Thus I often keep myself busy by making hive stands.

Just a word of advice if it helps. I always find it better to put the frame on which the bee hive sits on top of the legs so that all the pressure isn't on the screws holding the legs to the frame. That way the weight of the hives pushes down directly on to the top of the legs! Hope that makes sense.....but lovely stands all the same!

 

[Amari]

Just a word of advice if it helps. I always find it better to put the frame on which the bee hive sits on top of the legs so that all the pressure isn't on the screws holding the legs to the frame. That way the weight of the hives pushes down directly on to the top of the legs! Hope that makes sense.....but lovely stands all the same!

Thanks Enrico. Not sure that I understand that - but I've just sipped a little Pinot Grigio. I'll attempt to apply brain tomorrow.....