DevonBees_Em · Devon, UK · Gear · Sep 28, 2026
Autumn storm prep — ratchet straps vs bricks on the roof, and do you strap hives to the stand too?
Met Office has an amber wind warning out for Devon from Saturday night — gusts up to 70 mph on the coast, and my seven hives sit on an exposed field edge above the estuary with nothing but a hawthorn hedge for shelter. Last October I found a roof in the next field and the crownboard flapping. The bees survived but I'd rather not repeat it.
Right now every roof has a brick on it. That's obviously not enough. I've bought a bag of ratchet straps and I'm trying to work out the best way to use them: one strap straight over the roof and under the stand? Or strap the boxes together and separately peg the stand? Two of the stands are just breeze blocks and a pallet, which I'm now realising is the weak point.
Also — I've still got an empty super on two of the hives from an ivy flow that hasn't really happened. Take them off to reduce the sail area, or does that not matter? And does anyone strap poly hives differently, or is cranking a ratchet on a poly roof asking for a cracked box?
#storm-prep#ratchet-straps#hive-stands#fall-management
▲ 1 votes
💬 1 replies
PerthshireBees · Sep 28, 2026
Perthshire gets the tail end of every Atlantic storm, so this is routine here. One strap per hive, over the roof and right round under the stand, so the whole tower and the stand move as one unit. If the stand is loose blocks and a pallet, the strap is only as good as the pallet — peg the pallet corners into the ground with tent pegs or rebar. Do take the empty supers off; an empty box is pure sail and it isn't insulating anything either. On poly, snug the ratchet up until the strap won't slide, then stop. You're stopping the roof lifting, not compressing the hive.
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