Hi, just want to share our first beehives. I have no experience in beekeeping but i hope for the best! Made 4 beehives during wintertime myself and got two swarms few weeks ago from a friend. So far so good. Today we expect some heavy storms so i think about securing the hives with some straps. What do you think?
Congratulations! FYI, beehives should be at least 3 feet apart. Straps are never a bad idea.
Also you MUST treat for mites: VARROA MITE TREATMENT GUIDE
FORMIC ACID - EARLY TO MID JUNE PRO: safe to use with honey supers, kills phoretic AND reproductive mites CON: temperatures over 85 can sterilize or kill a queen
APIVAR USE IN EARLY FALL (after the supers come off) PRO: very effective 42-day treatment CON: not safe for honey
OXALIC ACID - USE AROUND NOV-DEC CON: won't penetrate brood cells; use in broodless periods PRO: Cheap and effective
Thank you for the tip. Still doing some reserach about treatmet - it feels like some witchcraft potion making process but i will do my best.
Why 3 feet apart? We are located in Czech Republic and all the beekeepers i visited never mentioned specific spacing for hives. They usually keep the hives next to each other with almost no spacing.
Thx
I believe it's to avoid confusing the bees. It's one of those things that I always hear.
I see. Thank you. Guess I will keep watching them and if there is some weird behavior I will make some changes. But so far everything seems to be fine.