Apiary windbreak question

[BernardBlack]

Quick question.

Looking at mesh fencing. Hive entrance 2/3 metres away. Would bees fly through mesh with bigger holes, or would they fly over fence regardless of it's hole size?

 

[Millet]

I have 3in square mesh 3ft high along one side of my spot to stop sheep getting in, i have seen bees fly up to the mesh and hover about for a bit and the rise and fly over, i have never seen one go through the mesh yet, i think someone on here mentioned it a while back that they do not like going through mesh in case they hit a spiders web, not sure if that is true though.

 

[fatshark]

I have 6+ foot fencing with holes about 6 inches by 2 inches ... I reckon more than 99% of the bees fly over it. The fenced area is big and none of the hives are closer than 2-3 metres from it.

You can stand outside the fence and there's a constant stream of bees flying over your head.

 

[Somerford]

A good, cheap and environmentally friendly and fast way of creating a windbreak is to use straw/ hay bales

Often farmers have old bales that are starting to curve or have got damp, yet they'll last a few years in the open air, and are cheap.

I use them to surround a couple of apiaries and in one the farmer let me roll some outside stores round bales in front to form a metre and a half high wall which was excellent

And you get lots of little wee beasties growing amid the hay/straw too boot

KR

S

 

[sladdergoo]

I use plastic mesh netting from premiernetting.co.uk. Bought some about 5 yrs ago and fixed it to the fence with cable ties and is still good.

 

[enrico]

They won't even fly through trellis holes! A quick fix if you want to get them above head height is a couple of trellis panels
E