Windbreak Ideas

[Stingtarget]

I live on the very top of a mountain with most of my property taking the brunt of 60 mph gusts in the winter and during summer storms.  Winters are generally strong winds that last for weeks with high gusts for 3 days at a time.  Currently my hives are located at the edge of the treeline at the northern most edge of the property.  Prime spot for bears as treeline gives them cover.  I'd like to move them to a more open area so that I can expand my electric fence to allow for more hives.  Downside is that the open areas offer no winter protection.  Other than some kind of fence...do evergreen shrubs / trees offer enough break from the harsh winter wind?  Would like to move them this spring.  Even in the treeline I had to place a sawhorse to the rear of my hives (north) and lean a sheet of plywood against it to throw the wind over my hives.  Would like a cleaner beeyard without the sawhorse and plywood and without a wooden fence.  It's a hassle to work bees and have to move all this stuff around to be able to get to my hives.  Any landscapers or naturalists with some ideas?

[Michael Bush]

Anything is more of a wind break than nothing.  Bushes, shrubs, trees, fences, hay stacks, "snow" fence, etc.

That said, I've never bothered to try to create one for the bees in particular.

[annette]

I have a similar situation to you, as I also have my hives on top of a windy knoll with the northern winds coming up behind the beehive. They are in the full sun. I stacked haystacks around the hive about as high as the hive themselves and a couple of feet away from them and I believe that helped. But I do have a screened bottom board which I kept open all winter and the open air did not seem to bother them at all. These bees seem to be so resilient as long as they are healthy going into winter.

[Understudy]

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=6174.0

If you want to place something in front of the hives I would recommend something like a ramp shaped design to to force the winds over the tops of the hives.

Sincerely,
Brendhan