hurricanes and bee hives

sean · June 28, 2007, 04:40:18 PM

for those of us in the caribbean and florida, texas, louisiana etc. what sort of preparations need to be made with regards to hurricanes. How do you secure the hives against the wind and rain. I know that finding food in the first few weeks after will be hard but i am more concerned with preparations needed before

pdmattox · June 28, 2007, 05:23:05 PM

Sean, being on an island you are limited on moving your hives I'm sure.
I will probaly move my hives if it looks like a chance for direct hit. Otherwise maybe just a brick on the top lid to keep it on. Most of my hives are on pallets and not very far from the ground.

sean · June 28, 2007, 05:31:55 PM

yes i am limited in choices, we havent had a direct hit since Gilbert(i think) in 1988/1989 but many near misses. My hives are roughly 18 inches off the ground would i need to go lower

BMAC · June 28, 2007, 06:46:08 PM

what about taking those dog cable lags that go in the ground about 1 foot. Put one on each side of the row of hives and run a ratcheting strap from lag to lag to hold the hives down from the wind.

Holycow · June 28, 2007, 07:00:54 PM

I had my two hives make it thru the double wammy direct hurricane hits in the season 2 years ago (Katrina & Wilma I think) I put large corkscrew stakes in the ground and then used a nylon strap with a ratcheting connector to hold them down. If these storms had been catagory 3 or higher they likely would not have made it.. neither would my roof or shed.
Also- I had an afternoon thunderstorm with 60+ mph gusts take the top off one hive and pour rain into it for 45 minutes. I just stood at the window.. lightning was hitting things all over my block and I decided it wasn't worth it. After the storm I tried to put it back together but it was essentially a total loss. Lesson learnerd- put something heavy on the top of a hive if you were recently in it.
--Jeff

tig · June 28, 2007, 07:37:06 PM

before a typhoon hits, you will have several days warning. i make sure the area isn't prone to flooding then we stack 2 hollow blocks on top of each hive after we have fed each colony to give them extra stores during the rain that comes with a typhoon. lifting the boxes about 10 inches off the ground is usually enough clearance because during very heavy rainfall, sometimes water gets inside the box if it can't drain fast enough.

sean · June 28, 2007, 08:06:39 PM

dont think i'll have a problem with flooding around the hive but i may not be able to get to them after. Would i need to reduce the number of supers i have on?

Understudy · June 28, 2007, 09:31:03 PM

Living in South Florida I have had to prepare my hives.
You may view pics of how I deal with them here:
http://www.brendhanhorne.com/coppermine_dir/thumbnails.php?album=53

Sincerely,
Brendhan

sean · June 29, 2007, 09:48:31 AM

Brendhan thanks for the link.I saw a post you did before on the matter as well. I think the best bet for me would be to move them together as much as possible. I have 31 hives right now(still growing) so to strap them down individually doesnt look practical and hope that the sheer mass ofthe hive will keep them grounded during a hurricane.
tig, hadn't thought of feeding them before a hurricane/depression so i'll needto make sure i have enough on hand. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we wont have any this year. is it wishful thinking?

Apis629 · June 29, 2007, 10:17:40 AM

I had the same concerns about hurricane preparation with my first hive. I sorta went "all out" and made an anchor about 8 feet under the hive with some cement, and attached that via several cables to the cinderblocks under the hive. From there, before I hurricane, I just ratchet straps from the cinderblocks, up around the whole hive body.

I know a few commercial guys who just say that, if you know a hurricane is coming, just don't open the hive for at least a week beforehand. That way, the propolis and burr comb should be enough to hold the covers down. If it's a direct hit or a very large storm, you just have to remember that there's only so much you can do. Prepare them as best you can, then hope for the best. I imagine if you're really concerned, you could use hive staples to hold the boxes together. If anything, a hive full of honey is quite heavy and it'd take quite a gust to move it.

Understudy · June 29, 2007, 02:25:23 PM

If you have that many hives don't strap them down individually make use of all of them.
Place them next to each other and use plumbers strap to secure them to each other. The ones on the end secure to a fixed anchor point. You may want to do that with a few in the middle. Don't do all 31 in one row. Do like two rows of ten max. And do them back to back. Take the extra ones and do a smaller version of that style.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

KONASDAD · June 29, 2007, 02:52:32 PM

Move'm to the mountains if you can. I 've been in the blue mountasins and they are gorgeous. Pretty big too.

sean · June 29, 2007, 03:01:41 PM

was thinking of nailing the boxes vertically on the end hives and then horizontally from end to end for extra strength and stability so no one hive can fall they would all have be pushed over . As for not opening the hive for about 5 days before, you will have to open to feed them so they'll have food during the hurricane.

Aah, moving to the mountains would be even worse they are beautiful, but any significant amount of rain makes reaching them impossible

Apis629 · June 29, 2007, 03:03:48 PM

Quote from: sean on June 29, 2007, 03:01:41 PM
was thinking of nailing the boxes vertically on the end hives and then horizontally from end to end for extra strength and stability so no one hive can fall they would all have be pushed over . As for not opening the hive for about 5 days before, you will have to open to feed them so they'll have food during the hurricane.

Aah, moving to the mountains would be even worse they are beautiful, but any significant amount of rain makes reaching them impossible

If you've made preparations, you would think that they'd have enough food to go the few days. I for one always keep a full medium super on each hive, just as a sort of buffer for when conditions aren't favorable for their survival.

Holycow · June 29, 2007, 10:07:39 PM

Sean,
Just curious.. Do you ever really feed your bees in Jamaca.. it would seem like the blooming season would never end down there. It pretty much doesn't end here south of Miami.. and you're way the heck down there. (I am jealous.)
--Jeff

sean · June 30, 2007, 09:04:13 AM

it depends on th area that your bees are in. There are some people that dont need to feed. the area i am in i dont i will needto feed unless somthing drastic happens like a fire. when the fruit trees are out of season there is a bush(local name rice & peas) which blooms pretty much most of the time. but the greatest determining factor i think is rainfall. i havde access to irrigation water so when it is extra dry i just turn it and leave on for a day to soak the earth.

Well as they say "Jamaica no problem" Big myth will soon have to do my own version of Mythbusters -jamaican style