Hey everyone, one thing about bee farming the need for stands for the hives, it is never a good plan to put a beehive on the ground for a host of reasons. Ants, wood rot, ease of use etc. You will always need access to your hives, a nice height for a stand is around half a meter tall.
We have lots of un-used metal around the plot and currently sit with around 18 hives and 14 swarms so regularly run out of stands. In the past we used everything from old pots, to pigeon coops these are really not ideal, so decided to start making our own and so we did.
This was old scrapped metal that was used for a wooden deck.
We cut the legs in an L shape for the stand.
I did the grinding and cutting the partner did the CO2 welding.
A great tip for welders (not that you are not familiar with these but sharing is caring) a great convenient tool to hold two pieces of metal together. These red magnets are great to use when welding 90 degrees!
We then welded the uprights (other 2 legs) and cross members along the length for extra support. These were by no means a 'monalisa', but worked out well and did the job!!
Turned the stand right side up and added some more support, grinded off the rough edges and...
Hey Presto, stand complete and hive installed. Did I mention these stands were sized to conveniently fit two hives, half the work double space, brilliant.
Be sure to stay tuned for more of my epic bee-keeping adventures!
Trust you have an incredible day.
Cheer$;)