Four years ago I built a wooden hive stand like the one above. I’m retracting this idea. Why? In short, termites. A healthy bee colony can live for years and once you find a place they like there’s no reason to move them. They are also really heavy, with a large colony weighing as much as a person. The problem with wooden stands is that even if you use treated lumber they will eventually succumb to termites, especially in our warm climate. Combine termites with playful young raccoons and you end up with a disaster. Let me propose two alternatives:
- Cinder blocks are inexpensive, strong and last forever. It’s harder to do ant control with them but I gave up on that years ago. Healthy hives, in my experience, fend off ants themselves.
- Buy or weld your own metal stands.
You may want to consider strapping the hives down if you live in a windy place or in earthquake country. See Eric of Garden Fork TV’s video on this. I also wish that I had small concrete pads underneath the hives.
Do you use a stand? What kind do you use?
