Well as many of you know the Tropical Storm Ernesto is bearing down on my house. Well not exactly my house but sometimes that is the way the weather reports want to make you feel. Since this is hurricane/ tropical storm #7 in the past three years most of us Floridians are dealing with this storm in stride. As a matter of fact it is a real yawn of a storm but you still need to take some precautions.
Well as a new beekeeper I have some added precautions I have to take care of. I mentioned in the last post that beekeepers in Florida don't winter their bees they hurricane them. So as a helpful step here I will give my advice on how to hurricane your bees. In case any of you northern beekeepers move down here with your bees. Please note that when you do move down here you should not drive slow in the left lane.
Hurricane Beekeeping:
#1 If possible move your bees to someplace where the storm isn't.
#2 Bee hives can be heavy and you may own lots of them so moving them may not be practical. In this case you should secure your hives by doing the following.
#2a. Place them as low to the ground as possible.
#2b. Trim trees around them.
#2c. Keep the area as debris free as possible.
#2d. Secure and anchor the hives. Use strapping to secure the boxes to the base and to each other and to the top. Do not use rocks or blocks on top of your hive as they will fly off if the winds are powerful enough. If you can after strapping the hive bodies drive 18" spikes in the ground and use eyebolts and aircraft cable and create a 4 point anchor system to additionally secure your hives.
If you have lots of hives this could be very expensive and impractical. You may want to keep the hives close together in on a pallet or a secure row. Use one hive to reinforce another. There are pluses and minuses to this as one hive may reinforce another however if the hives do not have enough weight they will fall like dominoes. Know how full your hives are. Heavier hives are less likey to blow over.
Also please realize that if you can get your hives out of the area for a strong storm do so. Ernesto is just a tropical storm. I would keep my bees in the area if was a storm up to a category 2 after that they would definitly have to be relocated.
The most secure hives are not going to do well during a category 3 or higher. If you have the luxury of a barn or a shed that you can keep them in during a high rated storm please do so but realize that even that is not as secure as having them out of the storm pathway.. You can have them in a barn , shed or other structure only to have that structure severly damaged during the storm.
I heard of a hobbiest putting them in to his garage and sealing the entrances. This may or may not be a good idea if something cracks open the hive and the bees gain access to the house you may find yourself running into a hurricane to avoid the angry bees.
I have secured my hives in these photos:
http://www.brendhanhorne.com/coppermine_dir/thumbnails.php?album=53The biggest danger to hives during a hurricane is debris hitting the hive. This is a bigger danger than the wind. If the hives do get cracked wait until after the storm and then put them back together as best you can. Let your neighbors know you have some angry bees.
Tropical Storm Ernesto is mainly going to drop a lot of rain. So I suspect damage to be minimal but you never know. So you prepare for something worse.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Topic: How we hurricane our bees in the south (Read 3234 times)