PerthshireBees · Perthshire, UK · Gear · Sep 14, 2026
Building an apiary windbreak before the autumn gales — pallets, straw bales or netting? And straps vs bricks on the lids
Nine colonies on an exposed field edge in Perthshire, and last October's storm took two roofs clean off and tipped a nuc onto its face. Not doing that again, so I've got a weekend and a budget of about nothing to put a windbreak on the south-west side before the equinox gales.
Options I'm weighing: pallets nailed upright to posts (free, ugly), straw bales stacked two high (cheap, but mice and damp?), or proper windbreak netting on fence posts — I've read a 50% permeable barrier protects better than a solid wall because a solid one makes turbulence on the lee side. Long-term I'd plant willow whips, but that's three years away.
And the lids: bricks have been my method for seven years and last year they proved useless. Ratchet straps over the whole hive to the stand? Straps just holding the roof on? Anyone with a set-up that's survived a named storm?
#windbreak#apiary-setup#storm-prep#hive-straps
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3 replies
KiwiBeek · Sep 14, 2026
Wellington here, where 100 km/h is a Tuesday and it's spring so we're getting the equinox northerlies right now. Every hive of mine is ratchet-strapped to its stand, and the stand is strapped to a concrete block. Bricks on lids are decoration in real wind — they're the first thing to go. For the break: 50% shade cloth on posts, definitely not a solid wall; a solid wall drops a rolling eddy straight onto whatever sits behind it. You get protection for roughly 5-8 times the fence height downwind, so a 2 m fence covers a decent yard. Keep stands low, too.
CorkBeeRon · Sep 14, 2026
Atlantic coast, so I've had a few goes at this. Pallets on posts are brilliant and free, and bees don't care about ugly. Skip the straw bales — they hold water, rot by spring and every mouse in the parish moves in twenty metres from your entrances. Put the break 3-5 m upwind, not right against the hives. Face entrances away from the prevailing wind, tilt the hives forward a touch so driven rain runs out, and strap the whole hive to the stand. Roofs held by straps alone still let the boxes shift.
IstriaBee · Sep 15, 2026
Istria: the bura comes down off the mountains at 150 km/h some winters. The old apiaries here all sit in the lee of dry-stone walls, low and heavy, and honestly a low site is worth more than any windbreak — a hive at knee height catches far less than one at waist height. Every hive gets a strap right over the top, and I still put two stones on the lid under the strap because the strap alone lets the roof drum in gusts and the bees hate the noise. Netting is fine but anchor the posts properly; a fence that comes down on the hives is worse than no fence.