I know nothing about bee keeping
but I like to build stuff. My thought when I saw your "ant proof" stands was "great idea, adjustable posts for leveling the hive rather than having to carefully level the ground". Looks like I jumped to conclusions but if you used threaded iron pipe and captive nuts top or bottom, they would be "levelable"
If the Eucalyptus (learned to spell that over 50 years ago when we went to my grandparents house in Chino, their farm was on Eucalyptus) blooms only every other year, will you end up feeding a TON of hives next year and the following winter??
Bruce,
Thank you for your post!
Yes, that would definitely make the ant proof hive “level-able” and I like your idea very, very much! For me, right now, I do not have the extra time or $$$ required to make such a beautiful and custom and adjustable ant-proof beehive stand. But I like your idea and I feel it would be a much better design!
If the Eucalyptus (learned to spell that over 50 years ago when we went to my grandparents house in Chino, their farm was on Eucalyptus) blooms only every other year, will you end up feeding a TON of hives next year and the following winter??
Very, very good point! Yes, the last time this Eucalyptus grove bloomed was two years ago…and it was a massive bloom. We are still waiting for the two year bloom to come in. Presently, the Eucalyptus trees just began to bloom about 3 weeks ago, but it is no where near the full massive bloom we saw two years ago.
Last year was one of the driest years in written history in this part of California and we were still in the midst of the greatest drought in recorded history. Did I feed our hives? Heck yes! My friend did not feed his and he lost 35 hives out of 70. We fed sugar syrup to one starter hive since day one at the advice of Dr. Randy Oliver. Fed the split hive that came from that hive sugar syrup too. Both hives received sugar syrup all summer long. We also had to feed them some pollen substitutes.
Randy's website is here:
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/
Since last October, we stopped all feeding. The rain has caused a wonderful flow and the bees are thriving now.
Thinking about moving the hives to my parents in the Bay Area and our cabin up near Jackson for the summer months if there is another dearth. Still checking into various options. I do not want to feed them anymore if I do not have to. It is way too time comsuming and way too expensive. There is always something blooming in the Bay Area [Silicon Valley], due to all the super high tech landscaping and the Mediterranean like weather...
What is strange is there is at least some Eucayptus flow every year, but the massive flows supposedly occur every two years...
Hope this helps!
BTW,
Assembled and set three full swarm hive traps and in the last two weeks we have captured….nada! Zero!
We may have waited too late!!!
