# For your information.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Five years ago I started making my hive stand from treated 2x6's with treated landscaping timbers. A week ago I lifted up a stand that was leaning really bad here at home. This one I had set in post holes as it was the first one I had built and figured that it would set more solid being in a hole. I was shocked to see the cause of the lean was two of the 3 front legs had rotted off at ground level, :hrm: in 5 years. 
Then yesterday I went to an out yard where I had lost all the hives from one of the stands it was only 3 years old and had just sat on top of the ground. I was shocked to see that the legs on that stand were starting to rot away bad too. This stand is at a place where it is really sandy soil so I am sure it wasn't because of standing in water that caused the rot.

I guess I will buy some composite deck boards and cut a square to sit under the legs for the rest. I hate the thought of going to a out yard only to find a stand had colapsed due to rotten legs dumping hives all over.

 Al


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## FrankRichards (Dec 9, 2004)

Sheesh! The two oak pallets I leveled with rocks for my first hives 8 years ago are still going strong.


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## JRHILLS (Oct 27, 2010)

Why not try bricks under your hive stands?


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

Any wood in contact with the ground will rot. Set everything wooden on bricks, rocks, metal and eliminate the issue.


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## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

I'm using landscape timbers on top of concrete blocks.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Used to be I did use landscape timbers on concrete blocks. 










I had a few problems with that method. One was the critters could get at the openings easier and I didn't really have the time or money to go to the out yards every morning to remove the dead critters from the live traps. Second problem was by the end of a day of doing inspections My back would be really sore from the bending and stuping.
The concrete blocks were going way up in price since there was still a building boom in the area.

Once I started changeing over to the higher stands, my back wasn't as sore at the end of a day of inspecting hives. Didn't seem to have the critter problem as much even with mice.










I have a shed that was built on treated 4x4's in 1991 and they are as solid today as they were the day the shed was built. It is my option that the land scapeing timbers are not treated as well as building timbers.

As you can see from this picture with the stand knee high there is going to be way less bending and stuping.










My post was just to inform that the landscaping timbers are not all I thought they should be for legs to my stands. Maybe stop some one else from the same problem I had/have.

 Al


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## Farmerwilly2 (Oct 14, 2006)

Maybe I should've mentioned I have mine on two blocks laying on their side instead of on the web, not a single block, and I have them on a slope so I work the back side, the height works for me in this case. Bottom line was to have something rot proof on the ground.

I'm in the process of switching over to 8 frame hives as well to keep the weight down a bit.


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## Mavors (Mar 30, 2007)

alleyyooper said:


> Used to be I did use landscape timbers on concrete blocks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Most landscaping timbers only come treated(dipped)...not pressure treated. This only gets maybe a quarter inch deep and the wood rots much quicker than pressure treated wood. A good way to check to saw off the end of one of the timbers and you'll see the treated line in the end grain.

Mav


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Sorry Alleyyooper, I know you are the experienced one here, but I just don't understand why you have that many hives on wood. It looks like you have on average 5 hives on each stand. 

That is alot of hives that will fall over all at once if one of those wood pieces breaks. It also looks like it would be easier for a bear to knock over a hive on those.

I use cement blocks as most others do. They don't cost that much and surely you can find used ones - a building falling down, one being torn down, or ones somebody bought and didn't use. A cement block lasts FOREVER. One block on the back (maybe with a 2 X 4 on top of it) and a block under the front - the 2 X 4 makes sure the hive leans towards the front. Cement blocks don't rust, rot, or get termites or bugs.

Just seems like 2 cement blocks under a hive goes a long way further than any kind of wood. And those cement blocks will still be around 40 years from now.


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

I'm using a couple of old feed troughs with the tubs removed (they're now being used for growing veggies in the garden) like these:










One has a wooden frame (from scrap) on top for the hives to rest on, and another just has some wooden pallets on top. I bought the troughs on facebook for about $30, and the wood was all scrap.


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