Height of hive stand?

[drstitson]

but surely during peak season in order to go through the brood you need to take off 1 or more part full supers EVERY week.

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes. Or ten days depending on the clipping of the queen.

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

i like all my brood box tops to be at 850mm high or just about trouser belt level, I am also 6 foot two.

I used to be 6 foot and and a quarter but tried the whole bad back collapsing spine thing and came out shorter than when i went in!!

 

[Finman]

I think a foot is the average.
..

It is needed here to lift the hive above moist soil during winter.

In summer I may have 10 cm, 4 bricks.

When I look guys' pictures, the stands do not tolerate 150 kg weight.

.

 

[oliver90owner]

It seems that it is the comfort of the keeper that is the issue here.

It may seem so to you but certainly not to me from post #1 where the OP said: ....compromise between an aching back (too low) and handling heavy (I hope) supers at shoulder height.

Comfort is one thing, and I agree with that, for going through the brood (which may, of course, be in more than one box), but safety needs far more consideration than comfort, in my book.

A slipped disc is a lost less comfortable, all the time, than removing a few frames one at a time from a brood box. Work done is 'mgh' where m=mass, g=gravitational field strength and h= height change.

Picking them up is not only a lot of extra work (effort) but, with minimal space to do it and low down, the actual action of picking them up is considerably more risky to the back. Beekeeping is not a simple string of isolated actions. Some thought needs to go into the coordination between, and for, those actions.

RAB

 

[BT Beekeeper]

I know someone who uses a plastic caravan step when the supers get a bit high.

I have something similar I could use - good idea as long as I remember when I am standing on it and need to step down!

 

[Black Comb]

YOu're an optimist (lots of supers)

 

[BT Beekeeper]

Looking back at the OP, the thing that really comes to mind is the lack of space for removed hive parts.

I often have another stand adjacent, or a spare box, for standing boxes on as they are removed. Empty boxes are easy enough early in the season - just park them on the up-turned roof, but removing a couple or three fairly full supers and parking them at or near ground level, is ergonomic rubbish! Little wonder beeks often suffer with bad backs!

I would think that many who have 'double' hive stands really have 'triples' but use that 'third' space for parts during inspections?

Regards, RAB

I have been pondering this myself too. I have made 2 double hive stands and 1 single and I am overwintering 2 colonies. My intention is to increase next year. So, for now, the answer might be to give a double stand to each colony so that I have a vacant space for stacking hive parts next to each occupied hive. Or I could use the single stand for stacking and move it around as I need it. Then, as I increase, I will make more stands.

Many thanks RAB

 

[MJBee]

If you are going to have movable stands you need a VERY level site, even a couple of degrees off means that an Ashforth feeder cannot be filled.

On my permanent sites (where I overwinter) I bed in a 50cm x 50cm slab which is very carefully leveled, a 50cm x 10cm x 20cm concrete block is placed on each side and the 75mm OMF rests on the blocks.

The final result is a level stand that raises the brood box 11"/275mm with an easily cleaned slab under the omf. When the hornets are about I hang windbreak mesh front and rear so they cannot lurk under the hive (and escape my badminton racquet)

 

[Silly Bee]

I have something similar I could use - good idea as long as I remember when I am standing on it and need to step down!

Is it necessary to have lots of supers on, why not just take the full ones off, extract and replace?

 

[BT Beekeeper]

Is it necessary to have lots of supers on, why not just take the full ones off, extract and replace?

A good suggestion. This is something I will do in future.

 

[MJBee]

The need for an average of 3 supers per hive is because during a good nectar flow the "raw" nectar is coming in faster than the house bees can evaporate it to the correct moisture level to cap - go listen to a hive after dark during an OSR flow it is roaring as they work flat out to process the nectar.

You cannot remove a super until it is capped and the bees will continue to forage so unless there is super space to put it where will it go? yes in the brood box.

Result - reduced/no space for the queen to lay = trigger for swarming.

Don't reinvent the wheel, you can "get away with" less than 3 but sooner or later it will catch you out - been there and got the "T" shirt.