We provided a winter windbreak on the East, North, and West sides of the apiary. Plants, fencing, straw bales, pallets, plywood, buildings, or a natural area will also work. We chose three panels of attractive fencing, but removed the panel on the East side after poor hive performance in the first two years due to excess shade. We have better survival from hives enjoying full sun in the apiary. Consider using attractive fencing to force bees to fly over a neighbor's property, even if ordinances do not require a barrier.

Use of gravel on top of 30# felt reduces weed growth and we believe small hive beetle reproduction. Hives on pedestals discourage skunk predation, mouse infestations, and ant invasions. Tarps, plastic, or landscape fabric would also work under gravel.

We installed hive stands on 4x4 cedar posts about 30 inches deep on pedestals 12-16 inches above the ground. We set the posts with a 40-lb bag of premixed concrete at the bottom of the post hole. We should have gone below the frost line and set all posts in concrete, because after years of use, we have had to add supports to several hives as their height and weight increased. We spaced the posts so we could work on either side and from the rear of the hives. We allowed space for the rear removal of white boards and for the insertion of an oxalic acid vaporizer from the rear of the hive for mite treatment.

We installed hangars on the fencing as a handy place to hang frames if needed.

We painted outside of hives with unique designs or colors to protect the wood and reduce drifting by returning bees. We used water-based (latex) exterior paints and untreated lumber for box construction. We do not paint inside the boxes.

We permanently named our hive pedestals but numbered our hives and nucs for ease of record keeping. We now keep our hive notes in a water-resistant notebook after losing months of records due to heavy dew/rain (Don't leave overnight out in the bee yard).

Consider locating your apiary with future expansion in mind. Once you have learned to split two hives into four, you may end up with 36 or more.