Hanna hurricane... Move hives ?

[malabarchillin]

I have 4 hives that normally sit on this.
http://mikesfarm1.blogspot.com/
Because hurricane Hanna will be too close should I
1. Move them about 40 feet back and put them in a pretty open pole barn ?
   If so should I keep their entrance closed with screen. I think they will overheat.
   If I move them and leave them open I think that they will be really disoriented and
   not know in which hive to go into.

2. Leave them out in the open ?  If I leave them in the open and tie them to the stand it may be pretty
   difficult to anchor the stand. I would of course put a few concrete blocks on the stand.
   If I put rope anchors to the stand I assume that ants would be climbing up them for dry ground.

There is not much usable time left to decide.
Thanks
Mike

[rast]

 Mike, just a thought, sandbags between the hives, will get heavier when wet. Low profile. Strap hives to the stand. I assume the stand is setting on top of the ground and the legs are not buried. I think the ants will be less of a problem than the wind, but, yes I have seen large clusters of fire ants floating after being flooded out. Depends on how fast the water will drain. You are also welcome to bring them the 60 miles west to my place.
Rick

[tlynn]

Mike I don't suppose the stand feet are buried, are they? 

I'd weight and anchor, the last day if it looks like you're going to get strong weather.  If you moved them screened up into a sheltered area, I'd think they should only be there for a few hours with our heat.  Maybe a fan nearby to circulate under the screened bottom boards?

Gspike had an interesting suggestion

If you're really worried about wind, you could use mobile home anchors.
They're kinda like big corkscrews, to put in place use an auger to put holes on either side of your stands, then use the auger to corkscrew them deeper. Backfill the holes, and put aluminium straping between the two,and ratchet it down tight.
Check your yellow pages for mobile home supply stores, i dont think they cost too much.

But, then again, if the wind is stong enough to knock over a full sized hive, glued together and at mid summer weight....You're probably doomed anyway.

Along the same line is tent augers, something like this - http://www.parissupply.com/servlet/the-172/Shelter-Logic-Canopy-Tent/Detail

You could get those come-along strap downs for cargo in the truck bed to use with them.  I'd think you'd need very damaging winds to pull those up from resistance to the small hive surface area.  And then like he says, you probably are screwed at that point.  Ants probably is the last concern.

Right now Hanna is stalled and at least 2 days from the Bahamas.  I'd have a system for securing the hives ready to go and just keep an eye on it.

[pdmattox]

If you strapped the hive body together like the nuc in your blog, I think you would do better in the open.  I would not screen them in or anything either. Sean in Jamaca just got hit hard by gustav and all his hives faired well.  You might want to give them a little to eat before it hits just so the have something through the storm.

[jimmy]

My hives are about the same height off the ground as yours.We had wind gusts up to 75 mph here in my location from Gustav. I have some heavy concrete blocks on top of each house .No damage whatsoever but,my ground elevation is 172 ft.ABSLevel with no streams closer that 1 mile for flooding.
I personally think with a little weight on top ,you are good to go.However I am new to this game of bees. jimmy

[malabarchillin]

Thank you all very much for your replies.
Mike