Apiary site inspection

[oblib]

I had been a little worried about where I planned on setting up my hives as it looked a little low. I have been watching it since I decided on it (late summer) and it had stayed dry until now. We just had a large storm come thru last night on top of our already saturated ground so I thought this morning would be a good time to check it out again.

Low and behold the entire area I want to place my hives on is under an inch or so of water.  :'(  I'm not sure how long it will last, probably no more than a couple of days but I can see that this will probably happen a few times during the spring when we get a few days of very heavy rain.

I could change the site by about 40 feet to dry ground but, that site would be about 60% surrounded by water anyways and also put the hives in shade from about 3pm on during the summer.

I might be able to have topsoil hauled in but would have to rent equipment to spread it and that's kind of expensive for a first year undertaking.

So, would the water be OK for a few days occasionally? move it to the shady area? or just break down and haul in the dirt?

[ronwhite3030]

if u plan on hauling anything in I would say haul in gravel but the easy solution would be put your bees on pallets and the issue is resolved

[rbinhood]

Build a hive stand that is about 16" tall this will place the hive above the water and reduce the amount of humidity the bees have to deal with in the hive.  Don't place your hive in the shade, if you do you will be dealing with an increased SHB population. 

[oblib]

I was already planning on having them 12-18 inches off the ground on a stand. So the water under and around them is not gonna cause problems? I thought a lot of bees would end up landing in it and drowning.

[AllenF]

I have seen enough pics of  hives on docks over water to not worry about it.   You might loose a few, but they are on their way out soon anyways.