Hurricane Preparations for the Bees

Backyard set up

Here in SC we tend to run into hurricane season early September through the end of October.It may be only a couple of months, but the planning should be considered all through the year. We monitoring our hive locations all through the year to look for flooding. This is the Lowcountry after all. Keeping empty and loose equipment stacked in another. The pictures on this page above and below show how we strap down on our hives on a traditional hive bench. Each hive strapped to the bench, and then the entire stand is strapped to fence posts in the ground.We tend to leave the posts in place until we need to move them. We find the 5 foot length allows us leverage to work posts out of the ground.

The video link below shows you how we set up a bee yard when at a farm other than our own. Heavy stands are not something we often carry around. Each hive is on a box to help keep it out of the weeds, this is easier for us in case the property owners need us to move the hives from time to time. Much less weight. The fencing stake and strap systems is very similar to the hive stands above.

In case your making a shopping list:5 Foot T posts, 10 foot ratchet straps, 14 foot ratchet straps, post pounder, some muscle and sweat.