Four hives blown over this afternoon--KY!!

[kbfarms]

We had a storm cell pass though and took down 4 of our 9 hives here in Brandenburg, KY!! Girls were not happy.......hope the Queens made it, only one was flipped the rest were upright on the ground. Husband got hit one.....they really like him.

The town to the south of us (Elizabethtown) apparently got hit pretty hard with hail and wind.

Wind is still going strong, temperature is suppose to drop to 30s......hope they stay up tonight!!

[Beaver Dam]

Bummer. You got our spring showers.LOL Sorry about the damage.

[tsmullins]

Sorry about your hives,

Last nights high winds made me start to think about strapping down our hives. Does anyone strap their hives down when there is a threat of high winds?

Shane

[kbfarms]

Usually we just put a concret block on top and its fine, however we had just moved these hives from the back field, so I think maybe this location is just a little more exposed than where the other four are.

I'm going to dig the concret blocks in the ground some, and have them lower to the ground.

Strapping in would be an effort, expecially if you have alot of hives.

[Acebird]

Does anyone strap their hives down when there is a threat of high winds?

Strap them down to what? If you have enough wind to blow over a 200 pound hive you are going to need at least three anchors for each hive. I would try to set up a wind break but that assumes you know what direction the wind will come from. Sorry for the bad luck.

[BeeOld]

I strap my hives together, however they are not strapped down. Hopefully if they blow over they will stay together.

[Acebird]

I am sure they will stay together but the bottom will be wide open and facing the wind. I don't know if it is better to have the supers and cover blow off and keep the brood box down.

[The Soap Pixie]

tsmullins,

Is this an option? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sTbPqPs6cK...0/IMGP0151.JPG

In the blog post it says they did this to brace the hives from strong winds.

The other option would be what I was advised to do on here for my hive, which is working well, and that is strapping it similar to this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9TgKVuXbew...ng+them+up.jpg

My hive tipped last year and the hive bodies came apart. After this years water trouble and tipping problems we've put the straps on and if it tips at least it will stay completely in tact. I would imagine if it is strapped to a solid enough base that has enough width, it would lessen the likelihood of being blown over.

[hokieute]

I had my two big hives blow over about 3 weeks ago. I had bricks on top, but because we were coming out of winter, the hives were top heavy (I think that was the key). I also had a wind break of straw, for the NE winds in winter, but the big wind came from the WSW that day. Bees, frames and boxes everywhere. Needless to say, the ladies were none too happy with the situation or me.

I was antsy about the queens for about ten days and then spotted them. All seems to be good now and we've made up.

I happen to have a wood pile nearby and stacked wood around them such that they had support. I think what I'll do is use rebar with a high rope linking the four to provide support in the future.

I really think being top heavy was the critical factor.

[tsmullins]

Strap them down to what? If you have enough wind to blow over a 200 pound hive you are going to need at least three anchors for each hive. I would try to set up a wind break but that assumes you know what direction the wind will come from. Sorry for the bad luck.

We plan to anchor our hive stands in concrete. Then we could strap the hive to the hive stand. Only when the weather called for extreme wind would we strap our hives. Having only a few hives would make strapping a possibility for us.

We live in a valley, and as a general rule do not have high regular winds. But last night the wind sounded like a train.

Shane

[tsmullins]

tsmullins,

Is this an option? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_sTbPqPs6cK...0/IMGP0151.JPG

In the blog post it says they did this to brace the hives from strong winds.

The other option would be what I was advised to do on here for my hive, which is working well, and that is strapping it similar to this:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_9TgKVuXbew...ng+them+up.jpg

My hive tipped last year and the hive bodies came apart. After this years water trouble and tipping problems we've put the straps on and if it tips at least it will stay completely in tact. I would imagine if it is strapped to a solid enough base that has enough width, it would lessen the likelihood of being blown over.

That looks great,

Thanks for sharing.

Shane

[Acebird]

If you know the wind is coming you can just prop four 2x4's at a 45 deg angle to the ground on all four sides. Point the 2x4's so you can drive them in the ground a little and then screw them to the top box with deck screws.

[kbfarms]

Strap them down to what? If you have enough wind to blow over a 200 pound hive you are going to need at least three anchors for each hive. I would try to set up a wind break but that assumes you know what direction the wind will come from. Sorry for the bad luck.

We have a windbreak, our work shop is behind them, but I may move them a bit closer to it. Sometimes we just have wind shears here, we are on the edge of tornado ally. We get hit pretty bad every 3-4 years it seems.

The first six years here, we replaced our roof three times, then finally went with a metal roof to stand up to the hail and wind damage. Three years ago, the last tree closest to the house fell on it, so at least we won't have any more tree damage

[Clay]

That's rough!! I guess I was lucky. I have two hives in Elizabethtown - and that storm cell was mighty fierce. It blew over garbage cans and basketball goals, but the hives didn't move. They're only a deep and a medium tall, with concrete blocks on them.

[Mustang]

I had 1 blown over to

[kbfarms]

Yep, bad storm cell. I may have lost a queen. Found a ball of bees on the ground the next day. Guess I'll find out next weekend if I did or not. I'm going to go through the hives then and check. At least I have queens being sent out on the 4th of April. Too cold to check this week.

I had syrup on the tops, most were 2 deeps, a super and then the empty box with the syrup bucket. They were also top heavy, so I figure it was a combination of all of that. Oh well, at least they didn't get soaked from rain.