Hive on a roof

[Willie Bee]

A friend says he is interested in keeping a hive on his flat roof. He has asked me for advice, but I thought it best to post the question here ..

Would it be better to have a 6" roof, or a gabled roof for the hive, rather than the standard 4". My thinking is both would be less prone to blowing off. I don't think he wants to put a brick on top.

Would you recommend using an 'official' hive stand, or best to put the hive on some breeze blocks. My thinking here is the big gap below might make the hive too cold in winter and the effect of the wind could be more severe.

Thank you for any replies.

 

[Erichalfbee]

You can obviate the need to "put a brick on top" by strapping the hive down. Much better in my opinion.
Then you just secure the stand.
If you have a tall stand then you can always put an empty super under the floor over winter or else make some baffles for the stand.
Make it working height.

 

[Willie Bee]

You can obviate the need to "put a brick on top" by strapping the hive down.

Oh, never thought of that option ... Thanks !

Made me think .. Why bother with the 6" roof, but I suppose if it is decided to add some insulation, this would be better.

 

[eddiespangle]

I kept hive successfully on my garage roof for a number of years. On occasions I had up to 10 hives and Nucs on a single flat roof. It was a bit of a pain recovering supers etc but very secure and handy.

 

[isc26]

Access is a key roof issue, a heavy super or a Brood box full of bees and a ladder is likely to go bad at some point.

I've got colonies on a roof and 2 things have been issues, lack of shade and wind. Recently even with them strapped to a 10kg weight and with another 5kg onto of the roof they were blown nearly off their stands & just left teetering.

 

[itma]

Access is a key roof issue, a heavy super or a Brood box full of bees and a ladder is likely to go bad at some point.

I've got colonies on a roof and 2 things have been issues, lack of shade and wind. Recently even with them strapped to a 10kg weight and with another 5kg onto of the roof they were blown nearly off their stands & just left teetering.

I'd say access is THE key issue!

Wind is another problem.
The taller the hive (stand, supers...), the greater the wind problem.
A 6" roof is neither a necessary or sufficient answer.

 

[Skyhook]

Access definitely the main issue- is it possible to have something better than a ladder, eg something like a loft ladder? Test-run the access carrying something large, heavy and unwieldy that must be kept upright and steady, don't get bees until it has passed that test.

Wind is the 2nd issue. I would suggest using a very low stand for that reason, on a 2 x 2 paving slab, strap around the lot.

 

[Little John]

Ease of access very important - two other considerations as well :

What is the roof made from ? If it is asphalt/ bitumen etc., then there's wear and tear from frequent traffic to take into account - plus the risk of dropping anything sharp or pointed onto that surface.

What supports the roof in the area where the hives are to be located ? Several hives ( ... because it never stops with just one !) will be putting a lot of weight onto a fairly small footprint. May not be a problem, but worth checking.

LJ

 

[user 6228]

Ease of access very important - two other considerations as well :

What is the roof made from ? If it is asphalt/ bitumen etc., then there's wear and tear from frequent traffic to take into account - plus the risk of dropping anything sharp or pointed onto that surface.

What supports the roof in the area where the hives are to be located ? Several hives ( ... because it never stops with just one !) will be putting a lot of weight onto a fairly small footprint. May not be a problem, but worth checking.

LJ

+ the weight of a few bee keepers

 

[Willie Bee]

Thank you for all the replies.

It is actually a church roof, so weight shouldn't be a problem.

There is a door on to the roof too

 

[itma]

Thank you for all the replies.

It is actually a church roof, so weight shouldn't be a problem.

There is a door on to the roof too

Dusty Rhodes is the man with the relevant experience there ...

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

Hi Willie Bee!


We have hives on the roof of Manchester Cathedral.
(I can now say that in the plural. We've had one colony there since July last year and just put three more empty hives up there - nucs to follow.)

Access for us is a narrow spiral stone staircase. Very hard to get stuff up there so the hives are now there forever as far as I'm concerned!

They are on a huge expanse of lovely lead roofing (security marked and inaccessible in case anyone is worried).

The architect was worried about a couple of things.
The first was the weight of a full hive and supers on the lead. He required us to stand them on 4 x 2 wood to spread the load.

Secondly, with wind being an issue, I wanted to fix them to the parapet (perhaps by straps). He wouldn't allow us to drill into the building as that requires a Faculty - notoriously hard to get. And straps round the parapet would be visible and unsightly.

I got my hive maker to make longer, splayed legs, to make the hives more stable. The first one we were able to strap to a turret behind the parapet.
With the three new ones, I intend to site them about 4 feet apart, facing in different directions. Then I will fix long bracing struts across the 4 x 2s mentioned above. The hives will be strapped, of course. My thinking is that even if there are strong winds, they're unlikely to move three hives linked together.

We've also been able to put a large garden storage chest on the roof, so we don't have to carry stuff up and down.

My main concern now is, what if we get a good summer and, say 5 supers per hive? How to get 200 full super frames down a narrow winding staircase? Might need to jury rig a crane or something from the roof!

If you need any more info, please get in touch.
There's a few photos of our first hive on my profile page.
More photos to follow when we get our nucs.

Dusty