Batten down the hatches – The Apiarist

Synopsis: Strap your hives down forward of the iciness storms in order that they don’t finally end up as a “herbal crisis” statistic within the surveys of iciness losses. Some examples of excellent and dangerous apply, and the effects of no longer battening down the hatches.

Advent

Hurricane Agnes rolled via ultimate week, leaving us shaken however no longer stirred. Inevitably a couple of bushes have been introduced down as maximum are nonetheless in complete leaf. Once more inevitably, one hit the ability strains that serve the peninsula leaving us – actually – at midnight for a couple of hours. Our electrical energy provider visits maximum years felling bushes which are too just about the strains – I’ve simply break up and stacked over 3 m³ of larch they felled this summer season – however the storms appear to have a knack of discovering bushes they left status that are supposed to have were given the chop.

An influence outage of just a few hours is enough to justify getting the tenting fuel range to make tea, however no longer lengthy sufficient to rummage during the shed to search out the transportable generator and extension cables.

No longer accumulating the generator additionally saves me getting half-drowned strolling swimming to the shed and again … it’s raining actually demanding .

Have you ever spotted how demanding it sort of feels to rain in this day and age? My climate station recorded a up to date rain squall at a fee over 130 mm/hr. Thankfully, just for a brief length or I’d be revisiting the SEPA flood maps to test if our steeply sloping land is at in truth in peril in the end.

All of which is a preamble for this week’s put up on securing hives for the iciness forward.

In the event that they’re no longer tied down but, they will have to be. And, more and more, they will have to be secured all yr spherical.

There’s numerous it about

Climate, this is.

Over the previous few a long time I’ve lived in southern England, the Midlands and Scotland. There’s climate far and wide, nevertheless it unquestionably turns out as although there’s much more of it in this day and age. Droughts are dryer, rainfall is wetter (or no less than more difficult), summers are warmer and winds are more potent. Regardless of the climate, it’s getting extra excessive.

This isn’t a UK phenomenon, or a distorted view as a result of I’ve lived in Scotland for the decade, it’s international. Infrequently every week is going through with out the inside track masking a ‘as soon as in a century’ climate tournament someplace; flash floods in New York Town, the ‘gobsmackingly bananas‘ international temperature this September, or bomb cyclones affecting 60% of the USA inhabitants.

Display us the cash

Even though those extremes can also be merely documented with regards to upper temperature maxima or quantities of rain, it’s the penalties of the elements extremes that actually emphasise the adjustments over the new previous. That is in all probability easiest illustrated graphically with regards to excessive climate occasions and related monetary losses (or prices).

The United States Nationwide Centres for Environmental Knowledge have a very good dataset and – extra importantly – an interactive webpage permitting you to visualise the frequency and price of billion-dollar climate and local weather occasions over the past 40 years .

It makes sobering viewing and, with a common reluctance to correctly take on local weather exchange, we will be expecting extra of the similar.

Local weather exchange will have an effect on our bees and beekeeping each with regards to forage availability, pathogen publicity and overwintering luck in addition to issues as mundane as getting drooked visiting the apiary.

Herbal screw ups

I’ve up to now expressed some scepticism of the accuracy of iciness loss surveys performed through beekeeping associations and others. Nonetheless, the losses are recorded and there’s typically a class termed ‘herbal screw ups’ … a type of catchall that covers the whole lot from biblical floods, falling bushes, earthquakes, strigilating livestock and meteor moves .

The place they recorded it, the COLOSS survey (masking ~30 in large part northern hemisphere nations) studies losses because of herbal screw ups of not more than 1-2%. COLOSS defines herbal screw ups as:

… the reasons can also be very other in taking part nations, together with fireplace, hurricane, flooding, vandalism, bears, martens, woodpeckers, falling bushes, suffocation from snow and plenty of extra.

no less than a few of that are avoidable. An identical US surveys file a an identical ‘insignificant’ determine of ~2.5% (Kulhanek et al., 2017).

Insignificant this is, except you occur to be the beekeeper.

Or the bees.

Rather then meteor moves (which I’ll most certainly by no means quilt), woodpeckers and vandalism (which I’ve up to now mentioned), many of those herbal screw ups can also be have shyed away from through opting for your apiary location quite moderately.

Don’t simply imagine the potential for the hives floating away in a flood … assume additionally about having access to the apiary if the bottom is waterlogged. If there are huge bushes overhanging the web page, or in an instant adjoining, then test they’re no longer susceptible to falling (or get a pleasant tree surgeon to take action).

After which imagine long-term enhancements to scale back the potential for hurricane injury … and bettering the micro-environment to your hard-working returning foragers.

Gimme safe haven

‘Ooh, a hurricane is threatening’ … so scale back the have an effect on through planting a safe haven belt of bushes or trees across the apiary to scale back the wind velocity.

On the other hand – or as neatly – imagine including protecting netting to scale back the wind velocity … a handy guide a rough and grimy, however unusually efficient, resolution.

One among my Fife apiaries is positioned on a raised earth mound and, when first arrange, used to be very uncovered to the westerlies. The apiary is fenced and one of the crucial first issues I did used to be upload mesh netting everywhere in the western perimeter. These things is designed to give protection to rising vegetation. It’s precisely the similar, albeit in additional environmental colors, because the netting positioned round scaffolding to forestall other people strolling beneath .

This mesh is an overly efficient as a windbreak, decreasing the windspeed through 25-50%. It makes existence a bit of more straightforward for returning foragers on their method to the hive front in addition to decreasing the have an effect on of probably harmful gusts.

However, it’s no longer massively visually interesting …

Hedging

A long term and extra aesthetically pleasurable resolution is to plant a hedge.

The most efficient safe haven is supplied through an evergreen hedge, however they’re typically some distance much less just right for flora and fauna. It could be higher to plant a thicker deciduous hedge and depend on the dense expansion – even sans leaves – to scale back the wind velocity.

Blended local hedging is to be had from a number of providers, maximum economically purchased ‘naked rooted’ for iciness planting. If you happen to do that bear in mind that some providers supply their ‘local’ hedging from different nations … simply because they’re referred to as “Scotplants” don’t think the vegetation are from Scotland .

I planted combined local hedging – in large part alder, wild rose, hawthorn and a couple of different issues – with plenty of willow a number of years in the past. The willow at the moment are 3-4 metres top and actually want coppicing. I’ll do that on a rotation so that almost all of the hedge is maintained. The coppiced bushes will unexpectedly regrow, with a couple of stems that can additional reinforce the windbreak and the volume of spring pollen and nectar for the bees.

Batten down the hatches

This after all is a nautical time period regarding using wood battens to safe tarpaulins over the hatch covers of boating ships. Then again, it extra in most cases way ‘to arrange for bother or a hard state of affairs’.

Even with a windbreak, freak gusts – both in power or path – can nonetheless batter the hives. It’s subsequently vital, in particular all the way through the iciness when storms are extra serious and deciduous windbreaks much less efficient, to safe the hives correctly.

If you happen to don’t then roofs can get blown off or all the hive can also be blown over.

I’ve had each occur, although haven’t begun to lose a colony.

A couple of seasons in the past the roofs and crownboards of 2 poly nucs have been blown off in a summer season hurricane. The bees have been uncovered for over every week and – after but extra wind and rain – have been taking a look decidedly sorry for themselves after I subsequent visited the apiary. Then again, the seams of bees in those densely populated nucs should have created a remarkably water-proof barrier because the queen used to be nonetheless laying after I checked them.

The similar hurricane knocked over a whole hive crowned with a number of complete supers. This used to be tightly strapped in combination and remained intact … however horizontal. Regardless of laying ‘face down’ the bees may nonetheless squeeze out of the hive front and the colony survived, as did the honey.

The hive used to be best heavy and the hive stand used to be somewhat slim. Then again, with out the strap the bins would have separated and the colony would have most certainly been robbed mercilessly.

There were a couple of different close to misses, however those have been the one two I’d photographed.

Bricks or straps?

I believe that ultimate instance well demonstrates the good thing about strapping a hive in combination somewhat than simply depending on bricks to carry the roof down.

Bricks or any heavy choice like clay roofing tiles, huge stones or – in an emergency – bins of fondant , will unquestionably assist stay the roof on. Then again, if displaced through a robust gust of wind then the hive is on the mercy of next gusts, and the rain that most certainly accompanies them.

I do know some beekeepers use the orientation of a brick to suggest the standing of the hive; queenless, swarm keep watch over, queen mating and so on . Then again, I’ve sufficient issues decoding my hive notes which seem to be written in Linear B, with no need to take the positional data of a brick into consideration as neatly.

So I take advantage of hive straps nearly all the time and feature bought a variety of various sorts through the years. Regardless of being other lengths and hues, all fall into one among 3 sorts, every of which has just right issues and dangerous issues.

Vintage or ‘same old’ hive strap

Those don’t have any shifting portions so there’s not anything to paintings unfastened, pass improper or ruin. As soon as tightened in position they continue to be tight and safe.

Then again, becoming them isn’t essentially intuitive .

They’re tightened the use of a cantilever motion which then lets in the strap to be secured in position during the break up steel take care of/bracket. Reasonably than describe it badly I recommend you as a substitute watch the helpful video produced through Thorne’s.

Notice that it’s more straightforward to put the take care of/bracket adjoining to a recess within the hive wall (as proven within the video) than flat towards a hive wall or roof.

Additionally word that you simply every so often don’t have the opportunity …

If completed up correctly those are almost about totally foolproof. I’ve were given a bagful of them … as a result of I typically use one thing else.

Ratchet straps

Those are tightened with a ratchet motion, a spring-loaded detent then must be launched to alleviate the strain and free up the strap. This kind of strap can also be completed up extraordinarily tightly, in truth, so tightly you’ll be able to injury the hive.

Take care, in particular with poly hives.

I’ve discovered those straps to be nearly infallible and helpful for every type of alternative functions. Once I delivery supers within the automotive I safe them along with a ratchet strap as this quietens the standard cacophony of squeaks because the poly supers shiggle towards every different.

Once I’m shifting hives over tough flooring at the hivebarrow a ratchet strap is my first selection for making sure the hive and the barrow stay in combination, regardless of the terrain throws at us.

Ratchet straps, no less than the ones of the width beekeepers use , are regularly manufactured with a 5 metre webbing strap. Don’t purchase them with not up to this. The ratchet/connection mechanism is adequately sturdy that they are going to safe teetering towers of bins will have to the desire stand up, however provided that the strap is lengthy sufficient.

I’ve had one or two ratchet straps fail or jam through the years, however they’re out in all weathers and rarely get any consideration or TLC.

Economic system tie down or cam straps

Those are variously referred to as tie down straps, cam straps, tensioning belts or shipment straps, regularly with the time period ‘fast free up’ appended to the identify. They include a woven polypropylene or nylon strap terminated through a easy spring-operated cam buckle.

I take advantage of numerous those. They’re very reasonable – those I maximum lately were given have been £8 for six – and greater than sturdy sufficient for most traditional use . Compared to both of the straps above they’re simple to tighten or slacken off; you thread the tip of the strap during the buckle and pull to tighten, or press the spring operated cam (a one passed operation, against this to both of the above) to undo.

Don’t hassle purchasing anything else below 2.5 metres in period except it’s just for nucs.

Those straps aren’t the most powerful or probably the most loyal, however they’re greater than ok for many beekeeping for my part. They fail when the go back spring breaks/corrodes or the cam will get caught ‘open’. Give the spring and cam and spring a sprig with WD40 each and every 6 months or so they usually’ll come up with years of provider.

Strap up and tie down

Even though it’s recommended to strap the hive as much as forestall the roof disappearing over the apiary fence, it’s even higher to safe all the hive to the hive stand. Sure – as proven above – issues can nonetheless topple over, nevertheless it’s a lot much less most probably.

I construct my wood hive stands with move beams (perpendicular to the longitudinal helps) which I go the strap round sooner than tightening the whole lot up. On the other hand, assuming there’s no touchdown board on the hive front, you’ll be able to merely go the strap over the hive – entrance to again – and across the longitudinal helps. The bees don’t thoughts … in truth some make a selection to land at the strap somewhat than the smoother face of the hive.

In a actually windy location I’ve observed hive straps secured beneath the paving slab on which the hive used to be status. If you happen to use wood pallets as hive stands then you’ve gotten a just right extensive base to safe the hive to .

And tidy up

That is a type of ‘Do as I say, no longer as I do’ moments.

Stay your unused hive straps tidy. If, as I have a tendency to all the way through the season, you simply unload them right into a bag they’ll inevitably get tangled. Taking the only out you need turns into an workout in frustration and actually dangerous language.

It’s some distance higher to roll/fold the strap up after which safe the rolled strap to the buckle or ratchet. You’ll use elastic bands for this, although they are going to perish over the years and every so often ping off into the lengthy grass by no means to be observed once more.

On the other hand, and higher, use a large however fairly quick reusable zip tie.

I attempt to tidy any unused straps all the way through the iciness so I’m able for the season forward. In fact, the iciness is when maximum straps are in use, so I’ll nonetheless be confronted with a fantastic tangle someday in the summertime (once more).

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Notes

Disregarded from the record above – because it’s no longer safe sufficient to be used within the apiary – are Velcro straps. You’ll purchase 25 metre rolls of two cm Velcro (or extra most certainly a generic ‘hook and loop’ product) that may be minimize to period and used to carry lids on nucs in garage. These things is regularly bought for tidying cables out of the way in which, however comes in handy for quite a lot of issues within the shed or all the way through transit. Then again, I wouldn’t suggest risking transporting a field filled with bees ‘secured’ with this kind of strap.

However, inevitably, I’ve … and all used to be OK.

References

Kulhanek, Okay., Steinhauer, N., Rennich, Okay., Caron, D.M., Sagili, R.R., Pettis, J.S., et al. (2017) A countrywide survey of controlled honey bee 2015–2016 annual colony losses in the US. Magazine of Apicultural Analysis 56: 328–340.