Hive Stand

We're getting ready for Spring.  After a winter spent making new hive bodies and swarm traps, we're looking forward to catching more bees to fill them.  But where to put them?  There are all kinds of hive stands shown on the internet, so we had a lot of options.  What we went with is fairly simple and straightforward, but should be sturdy and long-lasting.

These are treated two-by-eights sitting on concrete post supports.  The crosspieces will keep the beams from wobbling.  The gravel underneath is a ton-and-a-half of small trap rock from Burkdell mulch, delivered and unloaded by Ruth's daughter-law, Chrissy Strusz (Thanks, Chrissy!).  Besides providing a solid, stable surface for the stand to sit upon, the gravel should help keep down the small hive beetles, a notorious pest in an apiary.  Now we are ready to move our existing hives onto the stand, and fill in the space with all those new swarms we're going to catch.

One other feature of this stand is that the space between the boards is just right for supporting a frame when it is removed temporarily from the hive. 

So what will we do if we fill all the space on this stand with hives?  See that pile of blocks to the far right?  They'll get pressed into service as hive stands again until we can make another addition to our apiary.  Can't wait!