Height of the hive

[watta]

Hi everyone. First year of bee keeping. Is there a recommended height for the hive? Looking at videos and pics they all seem low to the ground. I was going to put mine 75cm to a metre high.
Any advice would be great.

[Dan2]

Beehive Stands - Are they necessary?

Short answer is ‘yes’. You won’t see too many bees setup house on the ground, the odd swarm maybe but this doesn’t last and it doesn’t take long for the scout bees to find an alternative with a bit of height. Some of the reasons are: moisture, the ground can be wet and this breeds mould or fungus and encourages bee disease such as nosema predators, there are a lot of creatures large and small willing to take bees or their treasure better ventilation, bees need this to control humidity and temp…

Hive stand considerations

I’m about to build my hive stand and would like to learn from everyone’s experience before I make a bunch of mistakes What is your recommendation for high and easy working of the boxes? How much space would you need if you have 2 hives on it? enough in the middle to take off boxes and put them down on the stand between? did you build anything in the back to eventually put down the bucket for harvesting or just use something temporary at the time? anything else I should conside…

Hi Glann, @watta

These linked topics above go into the issue to some depth so worth a read of the various views.

[Nicky]

Good height I’m not a beekeeper my father was and he use to have his sit on A frames about 45 to 65cm off the ground for the reason others have stated.

[Bubba]

I like 18 to 20 inches. 2 cinder blocks high. When you start adding boxes it gets tall fast.

[Peter48]

It can be determined by your own height being taken into consideration. I am 168 cms and mine are 25 cms off the ground. That gives me an ideal height to remove frames from the super before I remove the super and the queen excluder to still work relatively comfortably to check the brood frames and not to suffer from back ache. I work from the ground next to the hive.
A hive at ground level is laying you open to many bad issues and should be avoided at all costs. I have a pallet on two besser blocks high with the hives sitting on the top of the pallet.
Regards Glenn

[watta]

Thanks Peter, that’s what i was thinking. Have a good height shelf ready to go. Once again thankyou for your information. Starting to get very excited, just waiting for my bees to arrive.

[watta]

Thanks mate. Hadn’t really thought about when i add extra boxes.

[watta]

Thank Nicky, looks like i should be fine with the shelf i have.

[Martha]

Hi Watta,
Mine are 1.5 feet off the ground for splashing rain, or snow and to keep above opossums who like to eat bees. it’s also a little bit easier to stand and inspect.

[Dawn_SD]

Hey @Martha, have you tried girding up your loins yet? I bet that would help a lot with splashing rain.

[Martha]

I did gird my loins and it works great with a beach towel too!

[Peter48]

@Dawn_SD

have you tried girding up your loins yet?

Am I the only one missing what this is about? Come on Dawn, you can’t corrupt my mind if I haven’t a clue what it is about
Regards

[Dawn_SD]

It was on a different thread, @Peter48. Sorry about that. I was teaching @Martha the meaning of the phrase, and how to actually go about doing it. She said she would try it in a maxi dress (long full skirt) on her boat. I asked for pictures, but she hasn’t posted any yet…

Edit: Here is a link to the old thread:

Many bees - see new queen - no brood

Well I better gird my loins for the queen to start laying eggs. I wonder what girding entails. Lol During a dearth will the Queen slow down laying eggs? And do we need to feed pollen patties during the dearth? I’m into dearth concern.

[Martha]

I posted your jpeg demonstration on facebook for an amusment and it was funny!

[Semaphore]

yeah- I’m with peter on this one- I like to make stands that are roughly a bit below knee height- any lower and you have to stoop to work on the brood box- and any taller and things get awkward when you add a few more boxes.

If I had two brood boxes I might even have lower stands.

[Peter48]

Which way are you going, with conventional Langstroth super or with a Flow Hive Super?
I am guessing you are buying a nuc and with it being spring time it won’t be long till you have a hive full of bees and honey.
Cheers Glenn