Bee stand/ old car tyres?

[kronkie]

I am in the process of expanding my colonies and had a thought about using old car tyres for stands instead of more traditional methods.

I can think of a few pros including,

Ease of movement,

Easy positioning of the hive,

Adjustable height,

cheap ( any tyre shop will give you them).

Cons,

They are black,

Smell,

Looks.

Any thoughts???

Kronkie.

 

[drstitson]

bob flowerdew would be proud of you!!!!

have you thought about just using them as shock absorbers on 2+ hive stands so that handling one hive doesn't upset the neighbour?


seriously though - won't you need a perfectly flat apiary site to prevent the hives rolling away?

 

[enrico]

Careful that you don't get stagnant smelly water standing in the inside of the tyres. Bees don't tend to like dirty smells. Just a thought!

 

[Leigh]

I did experiment with this....without a live hive. However, found that they are unstable/rock the hive. Also, once you get your 200 lbs of honey and 9 supers what we all expect and of course get per hive (wouldn't that be nice) any lack of centrality on the tyre or wind (which would have the same effect) would be pretty disastrous, resulting in a hive in bits on it's side.

Maybe I was using the wrong tyres....but personally I wouldn't use this method.

Good luck!

 

[Dishmop]

Far too wobbly.... and they perish if left in contact with the ground...

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I'd have thought the fairly pungent smell may upset the bees, especially if on OMF. Heat may be another negative, sitting in the hot sun giving a constand underfloor heating to the hive when it needs to stay cool.

 

[drstitson]

you can always give them a splash of white paint - same stands for any garden purpose (eg as planters/potato towers).

 

[Chris Luck]

Round here there are many bee keepers that use old tyres to stand their hives on and it works within reason if the ground is good and flat and the tyres are really solid. Personally I use concrete blocks, (breeze blocks?). At a €1 each they are perfect and could always be reused for something else at a later date.

I do however have about 50 old tyres and the bees really love the water that collects in them with no ill effects and believe me they really do smell with the sun on them.

Chris

 

[rowbow]

I did experiment with this....without a live hive. However, found that they are unstable/rock the hive. Also, once you get your 200 lbs of honey and 9 supers what we all expect and of course get per hive (wouldn't that be nice) any lack of centrality on the tyre or wind (which would have the same effect) would be pretty disastrous, resulting in a hive in bits on it's side.

I agree very rocky, turn them inside out and make plant pots.

John http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/Smiles/svengo.gif

 

[drstitson]

my only problem with old tyres is that it conjures up the unfortunate mental image of Mr flowerdew standing atop a large pile of them liberally sprinkling nitrogen rich fluid (direct from source!) onto his compost heap with his pigtail swishing in the breeze.

 

[Cazza]

my only problem with old tyres is that it conjures up the unfortunate mental image of Mr flowerdew standing atop a large pile of them liberally sprinkling nitrogen rich fluid (direct from source!) onto his compost heap with his pigtail swishing in the breeze.

Oh dear God, now it's in my head too. Thanks a bunch!
Cazza

 

[RoofTops]

That's an image I could have done without this morning!

 

[drstitson]

luckily the image i have is of him with his back to me (ie the nozzle/rose is out of sight). not sure about you two!

John - perhaps you could arrange for a product endorsement by him - offer him a lend of a couple of poly nucs to stand on, like a boiler suited colossus, whilst fertilising his plot!

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I once saw a photo of an enormous wasp nest that had taken up residence under a hive that was sat on an old tyre. Nothing to do with the tyre necessarily, but worth considering - creates a nice warm, sheltered space for wasps, mice, etc, etc.

 

[justme]

I use two old car wheels complete with tyres ontop of each other for one of my hives. No sagging and no old smelly water.

 

[Poly Hive]

Tyre = Bad idea.


PH

 

[justme]

Tyre = Bad idea.


PH

K, maybe I change that one then.

 

[justme]

I did experiment with this....without a live hive. However, found that they are unstable/rock the hive. Also, once you get your 200 lbs of honey and 9 supers what we all expect and of course get per hive (wouldn't that be nice) any lack of centrality on the tyre or wind (which would have the same effect) would be pretty disastrous, resulting in a hive in bits on it's side.

I agree very rocky, turn them inside out and make plant pots.

John http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/Smiles/svengo.gif

Rowbow, what do you use to cut the tyres, please. Or do you somehow remove one side from rim? Again, if so, how??????

 

[Silly Bee]

Far too wobbly.... and they perish if left in contact with the ground...

Might be ok filled with soil.

 

[kronkie]

OK guys, it seems that it is a poor idea,

thanks.

Kronkie.


And heres me, thinking I had invented the wheel.