Great to hear your bees have done well over winter!
Do you have 8 or 10 frame system? Also did you insulate the hives for winter?
Thanks
Hi Elokni
They are on 8 frame boxes, and only wrapped them with a plastic cover which I got from a bee supplier the colony was strong enough to keep themselves warm, and they had enough stores in the top box.
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Received my hives this afternoon, one built one to go :)
I will look into insulation options in the summer. Hoping to try out cork as it is breathable or will use standard wraps if cork works out too costly.
I doubt you will have to wrap your hives in Essex. Just make sure the roof is watertight and you have a slab of PIR in it.
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I have been strapping my Hive as we have had some strong wind and other beekeepers have reported that they have lost a colony as the hives was blown apart. They managed to get the hive parts but were not able to save the colony as the temp drop at night killed the bees.
If you have your colony out in the open where winds do sometimes pick up, its best to strap you hive that way if the hive gets blown away, its all intact and the bees can still keep warm. That is theory anyway.
You can get a strap for £3 so worth the investment.
I agree with that. All hives should be strapped not only to the stand but to the ground.
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I bought set of straps from B&q for £7. Two ratchet straps and some elastic ones which will be useless with hives but I’m sure to find them a purpose in the shed or garage 
How do you strap a hive to the group, do you have any pics to share Dee
I would strap it to the ground, rather than to a group… 
There are a few options. If you have ratcheting straps, the easiest way is to attach them to “tie-downs” - a bit like heavy duty tent pegs which you either hammer or twist into the ground. I have some aviation grade ones, which look a bit like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005FOHXFQ/ref=asc_df_B005FOHXFQ5349804/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=394997&creativeASIN=B005FOHXFQ&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167140116641&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10070373848460768072&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061219&hvtargid=pla-272506034580
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I have a large concrete slab which will hopefully fit both hives and I plan to feed a rubber hose under it to protect the straps and then strap each hive to the slab. Alternatively I will drive pegs in, similar pegs are used for dogs and horses if they need to be chained at any time. Worth looking into pet shops or agricultural shops as well
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Just measured my concrete slab 110cm. Each flow hive is 50cm wide so it would leave very little gap between the hives if I want them next to each other.
So I searched around online and found the below base which is easy to make.
So I thought if I buy metal fence post holders and attach the base frame legs into those it will act both as anchor and as a stand. And then I can strap hives to the frame 
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Sorry a bit obtuse
Hive stands are posts driven into the ground. I meant that there is little point in strapping your hive to the stand if the stand gets blown over so you need to make sure that doesn’t happen
