How close can stands be?

[Horns Pure Honey]

I was wandering how close my stands can be so the bees tolerat  the closeness?

[Beth Kirkley]

Mine were as close as 6 inches apart. And I only had it that far so I could get the lids off easy. They do fine next to eachother.

Beth

[Horns Pure Honey]

Well I was just wandering so they dont get to crowded flying around each other. thanks again, bye

[beemaster]

Hi Ryan:

As Beth said, closeness isn't important, accessability is. You need to have clear access to the rear of the hives so that you can stay away from the flight activity - the dramatically keeps you safer and more "invisible" to the bees you are tending to.

Just remember that FIELD POLLINATOR BEES are typically trucked in and lowered by lift to the pollination site and all the hives are on pallet (where they stay until picked up) this keeps them from sinking or tilting over too which is very important, the pallet  works as a  fairly level foundation.

The only problem (one that THESE bee users don't concern themselves with) is access. You would not want to have hives with opening facing in all directions. As we spoke last night, keeping a strong easterly lighted front is ideal, but side to side you will need enough room to safely get your hands down between the hive supers so that you can grab and lift them as needed. Otherwise, closeness isn't much of an issue.

Hives are very heavy and cumbersome - most importantly, they are a back safety hazzard if you can't maneuver them around properly. Fitting them into a tight space between existing hives can be tricky and getting hurt is pretty easy.

So plan it out for your own health issues. Literally, they could be inches apart - the bees will always find their own home and if not, the bees from the neighbor hive will quickly dispell them until they find the right one - your job is to protect yourself and I strongly suggest having TWO SIDES of access, the rear and at least one side - that way you can maneuver better without having to bump into the other colonies.

[Jay]

I built my hive stand so that 3 hives can sit side by side.  Now if you only put two hives on the stand, on the outside ends, then you have an empty spot in the middle just the right size for one hive. When you are working the boxes, you can stack them in the empty spot in the middle and this greatly reduces lifting and bending!

[Anonymous]

I was told that Idealy they should be one outer cover apart. Ya I know mine arn't that far apart yet but will be when spring arives as I have a new stand I just need to get in place. That will happen just as soon as we get enough snow cover to thaw the soil out enough I can dig footing holes. once that is done I'll lay the weed block over the snow set the piers and stand then move the hives.
  Al

[beesharp]

the bees will always find their own home and if not, the bees from the neighbor hive will quickly dispell them until they find the right one

Unless the field bee is coming in with nectar, then the guard bees will say come on in friend you brought food! (same as me with my neighbors!)

Drifting can be a problem with hives in a row. The end hives in your rows will usually get stronger because of wind. I'll rotate my end hives a couple times a year to middle spots to keep things equal. Swapping hive positions is a neat trick for swarm prevention, boosting a weak hive or getting a hive ready to requeen.

Jim

[Horns Pure Honey]

I was thinking all day about the palot idea. If I put each hive on its own palot I could move them in the shed when the ground frezes such as right now. If I build a stand to put the palot on all the way down the shed than all my hives will be 1 foot off the ground and a palots width apart. bye