# Hive stands



## deevee (Sep 23, 2006)

I'm restarting beekeeping (after an AFB epidemic) and would like to make hive stands this time around. I've used cinder blocks in the past and they were okay but I'd like to make a cleaner looking stand. They would need to work with screened bottom boards and I would prefer that it be a clear drop to the ground (not on to a platform). I will have only a few hives and I wish to support each hive individually. I'm not exceptionally handy but I thought I might be able to manage a few hive stands. Any suggestions?


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## Ann (Feb 18, 2006)

Deevee, this is a pretty nice stand made with cinderblocks, pretty creative, I thought!


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

Not to knock the cinder block one shown here in this thread, as it is simple and inexpensive and clever, but it has one problem.

ANTS

I made some new ones this past weekend. I did not think to take pictures, but next time I go out to that yard, I will.

Essentially what I made was a 18" X 48" frame out of Pressure Treated 2x4 and then put large lag screws in the bottom of each corner. I notched out a groove 1.25" deep on each board 2" in from the end so that they interlock nicely. I learned that if you glue these up when you put them together, then the whole thing will warp due to the contraction of the wet PT wood. So I used no glue, just notched and put one screw in it to hold it together. I then set the whole thing on 4 paver stones and I coated the lag screws with grease to discourage the ants.

There are a few nice things about this approach. By turning the lag screws in and out I can adjust the hive stand for level quite easily. It minimizes the area I must coat with grease to keep out the ants and the whole thing can be picked up and moved quite simply if that is necessary.

I keep making refinements in the process. Eventually I will come up with the perfect hive stand, but I'm not there yet.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I've been using two treated four by fours on the ground for rails.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

I use pallets, the small ones. The folks at my work save them for me. When they wear out, or get close...I just switch them out and throw them on the burn pile. They are cheap <free> and work fine.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

MB and Jeffzhear,

You guys must not have much of an ant problem in your neck of the woods.

I have two different ants that annoy the bees. If the carpenter ants can find a way into the hive where they can be warm, but not in direct contact with the bees they will. Above an inner cover, or in the hive top feeder for instance. They seem to co-exist with the bees most of the time, but occasionally they must raid the honey stores and that makes the bees in a bad mood when I show up, so I prefer no carpenter ants even though they are not too much a problem. 

The real problem are the fire ants. The fire ants eat the bees brood and that REALLY makes them mad. Once the fire ants get in there I've got two stinging insect colonies at war. You can imagine the reception I get when I open the cover to discover that mess.

The bees behave as if they are africanized and the ants aren't happy either. The greased legs on my stands seem to work most of the time. Of course if one blade of grass should lean over onto the stand, the ants find it and climb aboard.

So you can see from these events I've had to adapt.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I use two landscape timbers for rails flat on the ground. Cheaper than 4x4s. I have never seen fire ants in a hive until it was dead, then they clean up and keep the wax moths at bay.


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## Ann (Feb 18, 2006)

We have ants, but we sprinkle everything around the hive with cinnamon, and the ants rarely cross it. Now that it's been pouring for days we'll have to replenish it, but we've got a cheap source.


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## redhawknc1 (Jun 16, 2005)

Well, I definitely have ant problems when using a top feeder. The big black ants love that syrup. They don't bother the mouth feeders. I'll try the cinnamon around the hives. They are on a wood frame built so I am able to fit frames between and sitting on blocks 16" off the ground. 4 hives to a frame, 3 frames for 12 hives.


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## balhanapi (Aug 22, 2006)

How about this one?  mannlake 

or this one  mannlake2


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## LET (May 24, 2005)

I like the one pictured at Beecare.com. They don't seem to be selling it anymore, so I'm making my own that will look like it. Looks like a frame of 1X8's with treated 2X4's notched onto the sides.

http://lennytaylor.freeyellow.com/Stand01.jpg

http://lennytaylor.freeyellow.com/Stand02.jpg


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## LET (May 24, 2005)

Troy said:


> MB and Jeffzhear,
> 
> You guys must not have much of an ant problem in your neck of the woods.
> 
> ...


Look at the Dadant elevated hive stand. It has built-in wells for liquid to act as a moat. I saw one at my local beekeeping store. I think it would take care of your fire ant problem.

The other option is to spread Amdro around your hives a couple of times a year. Fire ants can't get enough of it and it kills them fast!


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## Limey (Feb 10, 2007)

This is a prototype for the one I am going to use. Hive stand with SBB. I need to slim it down a little and replace some of the 2x4's with 1x4's.. made mostly with scrap wood.

http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t133/laughingmeadows/IMG_2246.jpg


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Ann, the cheap source...can others get in on it? Just curious...and I would understand if not...

cinnamon...who knew, a new one that I will have to try...
another experiment for this bee season.


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## Ann (Feb 18, 2006)

We have an Ocean State Job Lot near us, they had big jars of cinnamon for $.88 apiece, so we grabbed four or five.


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

Ann, Thanks, I did a google search to figure out what an Ocean State Job Lot was...for others, it's a "Discount chain specializing in manufacturers' closeout and overstock merchandise. Locations in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island."

I will have to keep my eyes open for it...
thanks for the insight.


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## db_land (Aug 29, 2003)

*Elevated hive stands may tip over*

A few years ago I made a couple of "elevated" stands similar to those shown for Dadant. One of these has tipped over twice: 1st time a tree branch fell on it - the hive and stand were on the sides with hive boxes broken apart and very upset bees; 2nd time I guess the ground was a little softer on one side and hive weight was unevenly distributed - a strong rain and over it went. I never deployed the other stand - it became a small table/chair. Nowadays, I just use concrete blocks and sometimes blocks in combination with treated 4X4's. 

We have the big black carpenter ants and fire ants (mounds right beside the hive), but I've never seen them causing the bees a problem. I have seen them patroling the SBB insert, chowing down on wax moth/shb larvae and an occasional varroa mite . The ants are more a problem for the beek than the bees, but some strategically placed boric acid fixes that.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>You guys must not have much of an ant problem in your neck of the woods.

I have ants. I don't have ant problems.

>I have two different ants that annoy the bees. If the carpenter ants can find a way into the hive where they can be warm, but not in direct contact with the bees they will.

Yes they will.

> Above an inner cover, or in the hive top feeder for instance. 

But what I see more often on the inner cover or anywhere there is a crack the size of your fingernail are these little ants and their larvae.

>The real problem are the fire ants. The fire ants eat the bees brood and that REALLY makes them mad. Once the fire ants get in there I've got two stinging insect colonies at war. You can imagine the reception I get when I open the cover to discover that mess.

We don't have REAL fire ants. There are ants here that people call that, but they aren't. I don't have any ant problems, but I sure do have ants.

What I did have (before top entrances) is skunk problems.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I do have REAL fire ants all over the place. I gave up years ago trying to kill them on 11 acres. I have never lost a hive or a nuc to ants. They will get into a feeder if they can, so I just use inverted plastic cans. Any place there is syrup there are bees, and no ants. Problem solved. They will clean out a deadout. Not a problem as I seldom have wax moths when I have ants. I have carpenter ants too, but they aren't a problem unless I stack hives without leaving an airspace. A couple of shims fixes that. They won't eat or stay on treated landscape timbers, so no problem there.


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## deevee (Sep 23, 2006)

*hive stands*

So many choices! Thanks so much for the input. Since the bees arrive this week, I thinking about trying Ann's 4x4's through the cinder blocks. Someone locally told me he made a welded stand that allows him to coat the legs with Tanglefoot or some such substance and prevent ants etc. from entering. I haven't seen it as yet. db_land, thanks for alerting me to the tipping problem.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Buy a 10' treated 2x4. Cut into 2-4' and 2-1'

Lay 4' pieces on edge, 1' apart. Nail the 1' pieces between the 4' about 1' from each end. Makes an excellent, long lasting hive stand. Has a straight drop to the ground, and low enough so you can tip the colony on its back when reversing.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. It holds two colonies.


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## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Troy,

Fantastic idea! One of those "Now why didn't I think of that?"

I only have a small black ant that took over the fire ants about two or three years ago. Mostly a niusance, but they will get into a weak nuc and tear it apart, bees or no bees. And they are well nigh indestructable. They traipse through an established hive, but not in any great number, and they seem to be mostly cleaning up debris.

I keep my hives sixteen inches off the ground to make it easier to work them. I have a couple that are a full two feet off the ground and they are great, until the third box goes on top. 

For the nucs I plan to put together, I'm going to a welded table. Black iron pipe legs, and an angle iron table to hold the nucs. Legs can be treated to keep ants off, and the row of nucs can be secured as a unit for security.

BTW, Hurricane season is right around the corner. You prepared? I think I'll start a new post on it.

Regards,
Albert


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## Chrissy Shaw (Nov 21, 2006)

*I use wood...but*

There is an idea i have not yet tried. I have much wood in the form of posts, but the PVC pipe, filled with ready-mix, with attachments to hold two treated two-by-sixes, or some of that new poly decking timbers would outlast me. If you wanted to be fancy with ants, you could set these in plastic pails and form an oil canal around the top as deep as needed. If you used plastic sheet to line the canal, it would not drop into the concrete. If you keep it down to a couple of colonies to the stand, you could easily move these and level them just about anywhere with whatever you needed to use. Also, there are tints for concrete and you can paint the PVC pipes (6"). As for alighting boards, you can hinge panels on the face of the bottom board that angle where you want them and need not touch the ground. These would last for generations i think..?

Chrissy


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## thesurveyor (Aug 20, 2002)

Here is a couple of stands I have made. They are facing south-southeast. They are on the edge of a large creek bottom and have a clear path to the south.

Just thought they may be of some help.

http://www.motorheadshaven.com/Bees/P1010119.JPG

http://www.motorheadshaven.com/Bees/P1010120.JPG

http://www.motorheadshaven.com/Bees/P1010122.JPG

Another stand that is about 40 feet east of the previous stand. Ignore the 4x4 had it left over, will find a use for it I am sure.

http://www.motorheadshaven.com/Bees/P1010123.JPG

http://www.motorheadshaven.com/Bees/P1010124.JPG

Pics are kinda big, so may take a minute to get them viewed if you are on a slow internet connection.

Thanks
TheSurveyor


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## Dwight (May 18, 2005)

I build mine similar to the above description by Michael Palmer except I have a lot of scrap pieces of pressure treated lumber around and haven't had to buy any yet. This method is quick and easy and provides a good stable long lasting hive stand that is light wieght and easy to move around.


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## Madison68 (Jul 13, 2006)

Here are some pictures of the hive stands I built awhile back. They work well and with some marine grade grease on the legs I have no ant problem. Madison.....

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/madison68/boxsteelhivestand.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/madison68/Azekscreenedbottomboardwithslideout.jpg

http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/madison68/hive3.jpg


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