[Absinthe]

Under the law if "no stupid questions" I am asking what the actual usage or benefit of this piece of equipment is:

I know it is called a stand. Is it intended to be placed on the ground? I made solid bottom boards, and I assume I could certainly make one of these that the bottom board would fit on. Since I already had a couple 4x4's on cinder blocks, does that take the place of this piece of equipment or is there some other feature that this provides?

I have seen where Billy Davis does a stand made from either treated or trex or something that goes directly on the ground, but it is definitely deeper than this and seems to work with SBB as well.

 

[Akademee]

This is a type of landing board. It is supposed to provide bees with a better place to land so they can walk into the hives easier. I have found them to be completely unnecessary. I use four cinderblocks as my hive stands.

 

[Gray Goose]

It is a device designed to move funds from a bee keepers wallet to the manufacturer's.

GG

 

[GregB]

It is a device designed to move funds from a bee keepers wallet to the manufacturer's.

GG

LOL
And in fact, if you open any beekeeping catalog - 95% of that the stuff in there qualifies for the same - money removal devices. Beekeeping is one of those few inherently and insanely cheap hobbies (if you are after a hobby).

 

[Absinthe]

Aside from monetary removal, does it have a purpose, in the event one is using a physical method of raising hives off of the ground? And using a SBB. I make my own woodenware, so I am not so concerned with the cash grab from the MFGs. In my present design I have removed/not provided any landing board for them. I am even considering a 45°or 90° upward entrance so, the landing board doesn't seem to add much to my mix. And the SBB rather than screened would also seem to not gain any benefit from any void space below. Since I am in building mode (or painting avoidance mode) I am trying to make sure I don't have any other hardware pieces I should be making at the moment before moving on. The jury is still out on whether of not I gained much from the slatted rack. Since it was kind of a pain in the anatomy, I may not build any more of them unless I have lots of leftovers begging for something to be Time to make some tops

 

[Roland]

My Great Grandfather used them under his 8 frame deeps. He retired in the 1920's. We have not used them since. They do keep the grass down in front of the hive, and do function to make the bees, and possibly our, lives better.

Crazy Rola

 

[Boondocks]

I imagine if you are moving bees around to pollinate, these would be easier to move than cinder blocks, etc.

 

[Tim KS]

Aside from monetary removal, does it have a purpose,

If you're a pilot you'll the benefit for down wind takeoffs.

 

[JWPalmer]

If you're a pilot you'll the benefit for down wind takeoffs.

Yes, but touchdown on a runway with a significant upwards slope can make for a hard landing, almost a CFIT. (Controlled Flight Into Terrain, ie, a crash like flying into the side of a mountain, for the non-pilots among us)

 

[Gray Goose]

so if a bee lands short coming in with a full load, they can walk up the incline, from out of the grass.
it blocks grass
if landing slightly short, can still make it a success.
when cold,, bees often land short.
they are sold as "increasing efficacy" of the landing area.

Considering knot holes in trees were used for 1000's of years, with out landing boards.

really up to you, if you feel they are needed use them.

once you have the gist of how high the hive sets a scrap piece of wood can be leaned to do the same function.
you say you are building them so the big knot piece or the piece with a hole that is scrap, cut to 12 ish inches and make a leaning piece to do the same thing, should have the same function from scrap, and the paint again is up to you, if you need to see the same color then paint it. the bees do not care. Watch your bees, weather you need more will come from the observation of the first couple you try.

In general if I do not know what it does, I skip making it, then when burned by the omission, I can then decide to make it,

GG

 

[ZooBee]

Do bees really need a landing area that juts out? At all ?.
I have seen pics of hives from Europe and it looks like it's just a slit. No lip or ramp.
Here where we get significant snow, the advantage would be no snow to block the entrance so I don't have to go shovel out the bees after shovelling out a 50 driveway and then driving 15 mins into the back 40 and snowshoeing in. We got a lot of snow this year.
ZooB

 

[bentonbee]

I think the old way of thinking was those ramps would help a very tired be be able to climb up into the hive easier or to land easier when tired. I am not sure they really do. I have put ramps in front of my hives and not really seen them being used.

 

[Gray Goose]

the pics show a few bees landing short, loaded with pollen. this BB is the shorted one I have at maybe a bit over 2 inches, the rest are 5 to 6 and do not have these bees landing short.

A longer landing zone would eliminate most of this falling short.
Tilted piece of wood would as well.

they rest for a bit then take off and re land.

GG

 

[MajorJC]

the pics show a few bees landing short

I have four of the hive stands as shown in the first post of this thread. I was considering not using them when I installed my new packages into my hives, but after seeing those pictures I believe I will use them after all. I may not buy/build more, but I may as well use the ones I already have.

P.S. that sure seems like a lot of dead bees on the ground in front of your hive.

 

[mtnmyke]

It depends on your setup. When I've had setups like Grey Goose the bees seem to get confused on which level goes into the hive.

For this reason all my landing boards stick out, or are flush with their stand. I never get any confusion and it saves me from having to buy extra equipment.

 

[Gray Goose]

I have four of the hive stands as shown in the first post of this thread. I was considering not using them when I installed my new packages into my hives, but after seeing those pictures I believe I will use them after all. I may not buy/build more, but I may as well use the ones I already have.

P.S. that sure seems like a lot of dead bees on the ground in front of your hive.

they just got done hauling the dead from winter out, this was 3 or 4 down the list for vollume.

if you have the stands then why not use them.
at 5-6 inches hardly any fall short.
Last year I ran out of stuff toward fall and some bees were is seconds and thirds for wooden ware.

GG

 

[Gray Goose]

It depends on your setup. When I've had setups like Grey Goose the bees seem to get confused on which level goes into the hive.

For this reason all my landing boards stick out, or are flush with their stand. I never get any confusion and it saves me from having to buy extra equipment.

View attachment 62712

looks good, I may need to tack a piece on the front to make it flush.
I think they are just landing short, not confused, but perhaps I'll experiment.
I did make 1- 10 and 3- 8 frame bottoms last week so I may make a couple more and relegate this one to the trap line.

GG

 

[mtnmyke]

looks good, I may need to tack a piece on the front to make it flush.
I think they are just landing short, not confused, but perhaps I'll experiment.
I did make 1- 10 and 3- 8 frame bottoms last week so I may make a couple more and relegate this one to the trap line.

GG

Let me know how it works out. I used to keep my hives on cinder blocks, when I only had a few hives, and they would land on the block and walk right under the board to nowhere. Would be nice to hear of someone else fixing the issue like I did, so it wasn't just a fluke on my part.

 

[Gray Goose]

Let me know how it works out. I used to keep my hives on cinder blocks, when I only had a few hives, and they would land on the block and walk right under the board to nowhere. Would be nice to hear of someone else fixing the issue like I did, so it wasn't just a fluke on my part.

so I went into my shop today and looked at my meager collection of cutoffs and scraps.

And found a stick that was just the right size. slid it in and blocked the under BB area and watched for a bit.

only 1 bee landed short and just walked up, you can perhaps see her on the bark at the right end of the stick.

So I tend to feel the blocked is optimized over the non blocked, also to the OPs question the 45 degree block would offer a good landing zone as well. BTW today when the sun was just right the under spot looked a lot like the regular entrance so also was some bees with a case of mistaken identy of where is the real entrance.

Thank mtnmyke for the suggestion, I'll take the time to block these when I do the setup.

GG