Waterside Bees

Stand

We decided to site our hives in pairs i.e. two hives to a stand, and to make the stands from the cheapest suitably sized timber I could find. Surprisingly this turned out to be CLS grade 38mm x 63mm in 2.4m lengths (£2.19 when buying 5).

The design was a simple non-collapsible stand with plenty of space between the hives for stacking of boxes during inspections. I made versions both with and without the lower end and side rails, but given the low cost suggest that the extra strength given by the lower rails is probably worthwhile. The completed stand was coated with 2 coates of a fence treatment stain (left over from fence staining).

We are both tall and so chose an overall height of 500mm so as to make inspections easier. Beehives can be very heavy! (A hive with 2 full supers weighs over 80lb) so having built the stand I jumped up and down on it a few times to convince myself that it was strong enough for the job (nothing worse than a stand collapsing with two hives full of bees and honey!)

IMPORTANT POSTSCRIPT: I actually fixed the horizontal support rails a few inches above ground level thinking this would give them a longer life however 2018 was a very long dry summer and where one of our stands was sited the ground under it became very powdery and because the cross supports were a couple of inches up from the bottom, the legs one side sank into the ground making the hives unlevel. With hindsight, I should have fixed the cross supports flush with the bottom of the legs to prevent them sinking (see diag.)

Parts List (all cut from 38mm x 63mm timber)

Legs 500mm 6 off
Sides 1750mm 4 off
widths 380mm 5 off
Screws 70mm decking screws or similar x40 (I fixed each side / end piece to verticals with 2 screws at each meeting)

N.B. Can all be cut from 6 lengths of 2.4m