Stand height

[enrico]

The SMit

That's interesting but surely stretching over the platform at the back is creating some really bad lifting posture ? Plus, if you are putting supers with bees in front of you and bending over them - depends how well behaved your bees are.

If I had room in my apiary I would have double width stands or an empty stand alongside the occupied one - I can see one like that at the end of your row of hives.

Ummm! I have mine with frames running front to back so I inspect from sides

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

make your stands long enough for three hives a few inches apart but just have a pair of hives on them so when you inspect, you can upturn your roof in the middle gap and stack your supers on them, you can also, to save some lifting as the supers build up, shift the topmost supers on to the neighbouring hive to save lowering/lifting them so far.

 

[bob23]

Thank you all so much for your replies, I wasn't expecting such a great response.
Knee height seems to have a reasonable consensus so that's pretty much what I did, about 20 inches, my thinking being I can easily lower it in the future if I want .
Made from locally grown Scottish larch milled by myself so so is minimal, 3" square posts in the ground, 5x2 cross pieces both ways (apart from one crosspiece as I ran out of larch) 2.6m long should give me loads of space for 2 hives. Can't see this blowing over even up here on the Isle of Mull where we get a LOT of weather

 

[enrico]

Thank you all so much for your replies, I wasn't expecting such a great response.
Knee height seems to have a reasonable consensus so that's pretty much what I did, about 20 inches, my thinking being I can easily lower it in the future if I want .
Made from locally grown Scottish larch milled by myself so so is minimal, 3" square posts in the ground, 5x2 cross pieces both ways (apart from one crosspiece as I ran out of larch) 2.6m long should give me loads of space for 2 hives. Can't see this blowing over even up here on the Isle of Mull where we get a LOT of weather


View attachment 37830

Pleased to see you have the rails on top of the legs. Transfers the weight of the hive to the legs instead of screws.

 

[bob23]

Pleased to see you have the rails on top of the legs. Transfers the weight of the hive to the legs instead of screws.

Good point, it's only like that over the front legs though.
The fixings I've used are more than capable of taking the weights involved though, two 6mm thick decking timber locks on each joint

 

[Paulypaul]

I make foldable heavy timber stands, that are 2.5 National hives wide.
I usually run 1 hive per stand, that allows me to put the roof and any boxes to one side at a convenient height, as I do an inspection.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

on the Isle of Mull where we get a LOT of weather

remember being anchored in Ardtornish bay in a Southerly gale and watching the waterfalls on the cliffs flowing vertically upwards

 

[bob23]

remember being anchored in Ardtornish bay in a Southerly bay and watching the waterfalls on the cliffs flowing vertically upwards

Yep, pretty common to see that
Luckily today there's hardly any wind, just torrential rain with most roads out of Oban closed from flooding or landslides, certainly not the day to be making a hive stand but I had no choice as the bees arrive tomorrow

 

[roche]

Yep, pretty common to see that
Luckily today there's hardly any wind, just torrential rain with most roads out of Oban closed from flooding or landslides, certainly not the day to be making a hive stand but I had no choice as the bees arrive tomorrow

Are they swimming there?

 

[bob23]

Are they swimming there?

Haha, already on the island, another keeper is giving up.
Can't get bees from many places as we are luckily varroa free so importing bees from nearly everywhere else is a big no no

 

[Erichalfbee]

Haha, already on the island, another keeper is giving up.
Can't get bees from many places as we are luckily varroa free so importing bees from nearly everywhere else is a big no no

Where are they coming from?

 

[bob23]

Where are they coming from?

A bee keeper in the north of mull

 

[Niv]

Mine is whatever the height of two breeze blocks and a concrete base board is