Rubber mat

[Gadgetman]

I'm thinking of placing a large rubber mat (from a farm supplies shop) under my hives to stop the weeds & grass and so I can clearly see what's dropping out of the hives.

Do you think the slight rubber smell will upset them or mess with the bees pheromone communications?

 

[pargyle]

I doubt it....

 

[Roger.Wilco]

thinking of placing a large rubber mat (from a farm supplies shop) under my hives

I'm not sure of the cost of a large rubber mat?

If you have a landscape supplies place anywhere near you; go talk to them. As in my experience they often have 2nd grade (small chips, orphaned colors etc...) paving/patio slabs & tiles for either the cost of a chat or a gold-colored coin.

Typical sizes are 600mm x 600mm or 600mm x 300mm or 450mm x 450mm etc...

They will outlast the hives.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

how will they degauss themselves

 

[pargyle]

I'm not sure of the cost of a large rubber mat?

If you have a landscape supplies place anywhere near you; go talk to them. As in my experience they often have 2nd grade (small chips, orphaned colors etc...) paving/patio slabs & tiles for either the cost of a chat or a gold-colored coin.

Typical sizes are 600mm x 600mm or 600mm x 300mm or 450mm x 450mm etc...

They will outlast the hives.

My hives stand on paving slabs - an assorted mix picked up on Freecycle (there are always some on there). The local recycling lot decided they were going to charge £3 per item or rubble sack for 'builders waste' and whilst there is a free allowance of four items per month for DIY'ers there are always people trying to rid themselves of outdated patio slabs.

 

[peterbees]

I place old sheets of corrugated iron in front of the twin rail hive stands, which each hold two hives.
Easy to see any hive detritus
Easy to brush clean
Provides a home for mice, instead of them using my hives as a winter home.
Can provide a home for slow worms.
I learned this trick in a talk from Bob Parsonage, Cheshre BKA many years ago.

 

[judy12]

Mine have sat happily on their concrete paving slabs. - £1.00 each at the time, for 20 years - v. easy to keep clean.

 

[Macbear]

My hives stand on paving slabs - an assorted mix picked up on Freecycle (there are always some on there). The local recycling lot decided they were going to charge £3 per item or rubble sack for 'builders waste' and whilst there is a free allowance of four items per month for DIY'ers there are always people trying to rid themselves of outdated patio slabs.

Mine stand on slabs of various sorts. In addition to weed control it helps cleanliness - as I've made a sort of patio the inverted roof can go down ready to receive successive layers of hive and my boots don't churn up mud. Corpses and hive debris are easy to see and sweep away to some far part or a bonfire ... and as the bees do not appreciate my strimming of allotment paths near to them this annoyance is a little further away. Thus far rodents have not bothered my apiary, I wonder if the risk of being spotted on bare slabs being more than amongst grass is a deterrent.
I do grow daffs and other flowers where the patio ends in front of the entrances as some some of refuge against hawking predators [of my bees!].