Hive Stand Plans?

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Haughton Honey

Drone Bee
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Apr 15, 2009
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Location
South Cheshire
Hive Type
Commercial
Number of Hives
Lots of Commercial hives.......
Does anyone have any hive stand plans for a long hive stand that can accommodate two or three nationals that's higher than the standard 11" hive stand available from 'the largest beekeeping equipment supplier'?

I'm useless at woodwork but fancy having a go at building one, so could do with the numbers and lengths of cuts needed.

I'm 6'6" tall and need something 20-22" tall otherwise I get a bad back!

Any advice, ideas and/or measurements appreciated!

Cris
 
The simplest one is a pile of pallets with up to four hives on top facing north, south, east, west.

Alternatively knock in four 2' 6" fence posts in a rectangle. Level the tops with a spirit level and fix long side rails with nuts and bolts.

Hint, space the posts and side rails so that you can hang a frame across them when inspecting your hive.
 
I made myself some. One hold three hives with plenty of space for frames and stuff inbetween, and another holds two and then several singles. I think mine are about 15" high and in actual fact they have now proved to be too high as I can't lift a fullish super on to the top if there are already three on............does that make sense? however I've always suffered from a lack of leg length :rofl:

Oh and they have solid tops which may or may not be an advantage. - cue words of wisdom from other more experienced............


So here goes :-

4 legs at your prefered height. I generally used 2" x 2", whatever it needs to be sturdy. the brace under the top and halfway down the leg is 2" x 1" lath (I had my house reroofed last year) The top is generally the coarser than chipboard boarding.

I've got nationals which are 18" square so a single stand wants to be a minimum of 20" square, a double wants to be 20" x 50" which gives a 10" gap between the hives.

Make sure you carefully measure everything twice - to be sure, to be sure.
You need an overlap on two sets of braces. Drill and screw them together.

Pictures of the triple and a wide single and the double and an error, but it fits a nuc nicely :)

Frisbee
 
I have to confess though..............I didn't make the triple, my son made it originally as a skateboard block which is why it has the metal corners. The twin one the top rail is a bit of feather edged boarding I had kicking around.

Frisbee

Another single
 
Er, do you do cooking and washing ? I suppose a chat is out of the question ? :)
 
higher than the standard 11" hive stand available

All I will advise is: make it robust and if fixed, and for several hives, don't build it too high - you can easily raise the working surface by adding extra bearers but reducing it is not quite so easy; also, old supers will raise a floor by a considerable amount, or make your own 'ekes'.

Regards, RAB
 
Thank you all for your ideas and plans....I shall get cracking over the next few days!

:)
 
best not to make the top solid, as this in effect gives you a solid floor to your hive.
 
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Just make the sizes up to suit what you want this is what I came up with.
Big enough for two hives with room for frames in the middle.
View attachment 889
 
You could try the hive stand shown in Practical Beekeeping by Clive de Bruyn page 128, which shows a neat hive stand which has folding legs and so is collapsible for transportation.

If you do not a have a copy I am sure your local association library will have the book - assuming they have a library of course.
 
hi, hubby and me are considering getting a hive for a bit of extra money, we know it will only be pennies but every bit helps, anyway we have done our research or so i thought but now i am not that sure, it all seems so confusing coming here we have been quoted £349 for a " starter kit" then i see here you make your own hives here where do we buy the bees? how many?and how do you exract the honey, etc?
i am sorry about about all the questions
tupp
 
hi, hubby and me are considering getting a hive for a bit of extra money, we know it will only be pennies but every bit helps, anyway we have done our research or so i thought but now i am not that sure, it all seems so confusing coming here we have been quoted £349 for a " starter kit" then i see here you make your own hives here where do we buy the bees? how many?and how do you exract the honey, etc?
i am sorry about about all the questions
tupp

Hello tuppence and welcome to the forum :cheers2:

The best thing for you and hubby to do would be to look up your local association and get booked in on a course, then you will be able to see the hives, handle the bees and they will be able to answer more of your questions, not that we can't here, but you definately need to read some books and do more research before you can start to make informed choices. :)

We don't all make our own hives and this thread is really for diy'ers, not everyone is up to it. I've made some good stands but I don't think I could make a hive.

Frisbee
 

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