Where to Place Your New Hive!

The most important factor in determining where to place your new hive is where is the most sun! I understand it's a nice sentiment to want to give your beehive a lot of shade for the hot summer, but that is a hive beetle problem waiting to happen. Hive beetles love shady areas and hate full sun! So, put your new beehive in full sun. If you have to place them in some shade, an afternoon shade in the west is best. You want the bees up and out of the hive first thing, so their entrance/exit needs to be at the spot that sees sun first. 

A colony will keep their hive cool in the summer. They spit water on the front porch and fan it inside the hive. The bees also hang outside of the hive to keep the inside temperature from getting too hot. This is called bearding. Why? Because it looks like a gentleman's beard. 
Hay bales can block the cold wind in the winter, or you can place them in front of a line of trees...as long as those trees aren't shading the bees throughout the day. 

OK, now what to put your beehives on! I use cinder blocks for the most part. I place 2 flat and then I place 2 on top of the flat ones. You can build a stand or buy a stand as well. It's really about how fancy you want to get. An example is chicken coops. I've seen some really basic coops and I've seen some coops that look like a human could live in them. They both have chickens that produce eggs - I'm sure! haha! 

Just a reminder, bees fly anywhere from 2-4 miles a day to find food and water. This means, while providing them a watering source is very nice of you, it may be unnecessary.

I have a creek on my property and they visit it for their water. Bees love dirty water and clean water. The dirty water has minerals they require. 

Again, it's all in how you want to keep your bees. If you want to provide a watering source, use a bird bath with some sticks or pebbles in it. Bees cannot swim, so they need places to land on where they can stick their little tongues out and slurp.

Have fun with your new apiary!!