Many mosquitoes….
Many mosquitoes were killed in the making of this bee yard.
Derek and his dad made this bear fence and bee stand over the weekend, and though the picture looks sunny, they were building on a rainy day in a heavily mosquito infested area.
‘The Boathouse’ (on the left) and ‘The Barracks’ (on the right) are almost ready to go, and the bees are scheduled to arrive on Monday. Wahoo.
If you’re looking to build a bear fence or bee yard, here’s more info (if not, skip this!)
Our fence consists of 6 and 7 foot t-bars pounded in with a post-pounder. We left about 4 feet showing. T-bars at the corners are on a 45 degree angle, and the top of the T is always facing out. Apparently pounding in the posts did not take all that long as the t-bars went in fairly nicely. Maybe the guys are strong, or maybe the rain and mosquitoes had something to do with that, or maybe a bit of both.
In any case, next there’s an 8 foot 4×4 to hold the solar battery (which electrifies the fence), 3 strands of electric fencing (some to help deter skunks and other small creatures, and the top one to hopefully connect with a curious bear’s nose or mouth).
We are using the Parmak Solar Pak 6 which should electrify up to 40km of fencing to an appropriate level to deter a black bear if they touch it with their nose/mouth.
We put hay beneath the hives to (hopefully) reduce the need to weed whack right below 2 active bee colonies.
Along the fence there are insulators which hold the wire to the fence posts, which are spaced about every 3-4 feet.
In terms of a gate, we are using an insulated gate handle on the top wire only (and then stepping over the bottom 2).
In case you’re wondering how we tested the set up, Derek’s dad turned the fence on while Derek was touching it. Derek says it works.
Stay tuned, and wish us luck 🙂
