Straps

[Newbee]

Hi,

I see from various photos on twitter, etc, that many beekeepers strap down their hives over winter, presumably to avoid them being toppled by wind. Can anyone recommend the most appropriate straps for this purpose?

Thanks,

Newbee

[nealh]

On my wooden hives I place a strap over and under mainly to secure the roof, as have suffered with a roof being blown off but do not anchor to the ground or stand. Poly hives are different and ground anchoring is probably advisable or tie down to a secure stand.

I use cheap 1" x 8' -0" webbing straps off ebay (£1 ea) with the simple grip clasp. These are long enough to go around omf, bs deep brood ,2 supers & a roof.

[AdamD]

I find that some of the straps deteriorate over time - with sunlight or general exposure to the elements - so you do need to be careful that what appears sound one month is weak a few months later. Therefore I generally use bricks/blocks/paving slabs.
The cam buckles like this work well
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10-x-2-5m-Me ... 3YeF076UFQ

The ratchet straps are often horrible to use and you catch your fingers when opening the hives in winter for the Oxaclic Acid thing. - Although there are good and bad ones as always.

[DianeBees]

Aldi's rachet straps seem good quality and don't UV degrade (not in the several years I've had them, unlike the cheaper dark blue non ratchet ones)
They cost £10 for four but don't have them all the time.

[nealh]

These are the ones I use and work out at less then a £1 each, so far no issues with deteriorating been on since January. For the price I'm happy to replace every year or two if need be.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CAM-BUCKLE ... rk:10:pf:0

[Newbee]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions- much appreciated!

Newbee

[Patrick]

It may depend on your location but personally I have never strapped any of my colonies down overwinter or suffered any mishap as a result and we have had some right hoolies over the years. I do put a house brick on the roof but that is largely because it has become part of my apiary task reminder code depending on the orientation of the brick (one for another time perhaps).

Anything I do has to be replicable up to twenty or more times depending on the number of colonies I am running that year so anything not done is a significant time and equipment saver. I don’t migrate hives to crops so am not moving boxes regularly.

I have tried traditional hive straps to move occupied hives and found them fiddly, unreliable and a tendency to work loose and allow bees to escape. If I do need to move one I now use a staple gun with long staples and simply whack floor to brood chamber and brood to crown board, crownboards feed holes sealed with tape. Roof on or not depending on the distance to carry. All ventilation necessary via mesh floor. Light to carry and not going anywhere. Whizz round with flat bladed screwdriver to ping them out when required.

[DianeBees]

These are the ones I use and work out at less then a £1 each, so far no issues with deteriorating been on since January. For the price I'm happy to replace every year or two if need be.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CAM-BUCKLE ... rk:10:pf:0

I have had some of those. The orange band disintegrates first.
The blue ones similar to that leave a lot of blue residue as they disintegrate. They are dirt cheap and if they're out for a few months on a nuc then I don't think they degrade too much. I like this sort for nucs for preference.

[thewoodgatherer]

M40215-228x228.jpg

Local bee farmer uses these, easy to use and very reliable

[DianeBees]

What are they called?