I wanted to share an idea with all of you that Greg, a reader and friend of this blog, shared with me. Greg, a longtime beekeeper, has written me in the past with book recommendations. He actually was the person who recommended one of my now-favorite beekeeping books, Mastering the Art of Beekeeping by Ormond Aebi. Greg had the fortune of meeting Aebi and had told me what a wonderful and generous man and beekeeper Aebi was.
Recently, Greg sent me a photo showing an innovation he created and incorporated into his apiary. Take a look below.
Photo courtesy of Greg Smart
You can see that Greg’s hive covers are modified in winter to include a sheet metal covering cut to overlap the hive’s periphery and weighted to stay put during stormy and windy weather. When I looked out the window at my own hives during a recent heavy rain, I noticed that the back of the hives were getting the brunt of the downpour and looked soaked through. Although we have follower boards on the sides of our hives which act as barriers to any water seepage, I did worry about all the water hitting the rear of the hive. Greg’s sheet metal roof would go a long way toward helping protect the top boxes of the hives from the worst of the wet. I was very intrigued by this simple and inexpensive modification and thought all of you might enjoy it as well.
What innovations have you used with your hives? Please share them with me and the readers. Thanks.
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Very cool! I’m sure you’d have to really weight them down well to prevent blowing off in an open area. That’s a lot of surface area to catch wind. Other than that I don’t see any downside except maybe shading them when they’d rather be warmer.
Hi Mark,
Hope you got to read Greg’s comments on the finer details of his beehive rooftops. Hope you had a great holiday!
I did, and I did!
Hi Mil,
I use the sheet metal covers for shedding rain in the winter. AND for shade in the summer heat. I have not weighed the concrete steps I use to hold them on but would estimate them about 15-20 lbs. total. I have not had them blow off in the 4 years I have been at this location. The hives are sheltered in a corner of my backyard, not in an open field exposed to high winds. I have noticed in winter that the sun is so low in the sky that the sheet metal covers do not shade but the very top super. The first two supers on the stand are brood boxes and get sun all day at this time of the year. I also have the hive entrances facing East so the left side of the hive (facing the entrance) is to the South.
I used to have twenty hives in the Saratoga Community Garden 30 yrs. ago. The hives were located there on a hill top above the gardens. I can remember only once that a hive cover blew off, and in that case the whole hive blew over. The said hive was on the very end of the stand. And those were some of the angriest bees I have ever met when I put there hive back together !! Can’t blame them one bit. Who wouldn’t bee !
Love those bees ! Greg
Hi Greg,
Didn’t think to use them in the summer too. Great idea. I don’t get that much hot weather here. The last time it got to 100 degrees was around the year 2000! Thank you for all the additional tips.
And yes, I bet those bees were MAD!
If you have hive beetle then the less shade the better. They seem to thrive in the shade. So I guess you may be good until the beetle finds you. Other than that rain nor snow has never been so much of a problem to require this extra effort. Every place is different though.
Luckily, we don’t have hive beetles here. I was just reading in Bee Culture just about this very tip too. Thanks for writing.