Anti-bear bee fortress; nearly completed.

[Aerindel]

My solution to my bear problem:

Things to add, more spikes in the ground, and electrified wire running parallel to the concertina wire.

[beeware10]

you have too much spare time. lol good luck

[Barry]

Please take pictures when you drop a super full of bees or honey of that deck or when you back up a little too hard and end up going over holding the super! In no time you'll wish you made it 4 times bigger. Gonna get pretty crowded up there real fast. Looks nice!

[dloop]

Wow!

That's amazing.

[Aerindel]

Already wish it was bigger but its cost me over $1k as it is.

And do't worry, if I fall off I'll almost certainly get hung up in the barb wire before I hit the ground.

[HTC]

And a cat found its way through O YA and this will stop a bear! I did notice two chairs. Who is crazy enough to sit up there with you? All so where is the 50 cal. and the clamors?

[Aerindel]

I actually I had to carry the cat up, She was looking up at me like she was worried I was going to fall off or something You can't really see it in the pictures but the base of the ladder is in the main towers moat so it should be safe from bears even if I leave it up.

Guns are in my bedroom but don't work very well for protection against bears unless I am manning the tower 24/7. The second and final time my hive got knocked over I had been running armed patrols every twenty minutes all night but that was too long and it got in through my electric fence between patrols and finished off the job.

I seriously considered land mines after loosing my last hive but there are five dogs that run around the property so that was out.

Second chair was for my girlfriend, who also gave me the money for the building. That reminds me...now that the bee fortress is done I have to build her a kitchen.

[Acebird]

And do't worry, if I fall off I'll almost certainly get hung up in the barb wire before I hit the ground.

I would think the bear would laugh at the barbed wire. Nice observation deck. I wonder how much there is to forage in the middle of a pine forest? Seeing as how you have all these nice trees close by, wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to suspend the hives about 10 ft off the ground with cables that you could crank up and down to service.

[dnichols]

All good stuff but how are the bees doing?

[Aerindel]

One hive is doing great, they almost have all their winter honey stored. Two hives are strong but need to put on another twenty or so pounds. One hive is queenless, last time I checked, and is only about four frames of bees in one medium. It will probably get combined with one of the others before winter. All four hives where started May fourth this year.