Hive Straps

Peace of mind, for less than $10

If you’ve ever struggled to break apart bee boxes glued together with propolis, it may seem like nothing else is needed to keep a beehive intact. But many beekeepers add hive straps, particularly before winter when a broken-open hive could have disastrous consequences.

Hive straps come in two styles: those with cam buckle closures and those with mechanically-assisted ratchet mechanisms.

Cam buckle straps rely on pinching the strap between two surfaces of the metal buckle to keep it from loosening. They are simple to use. You just thread the free end through the buckle, then pull down on the strap as hard as you can. Although the strap pulls through easily as you tighten it, it can’t loosen until the tension is released by pressing down on the opposite edge of the cam buckle.

For keeping the cover on a hive and helping to minimize damage if a hive is tipped over, the simplicity of cam straps makes them a good choice.

How you install a cam buckle strap will help you get the most out of it.

Place the strap so that the cam buckle hangs down at least 6 inches below the top of the hive. Thread the free end around the hive and up and into the cam buckle from below. It is easiest to exert a strong pull on the buckle when you are pulling the free end down. This will allow you to use your own weight to increase the tightness of the strap. If you place the buckle on the top of the hive, it is more difficult to get it tight enough to keep the boxes together in the event of a tipped-over hive. In areas with strong prevailing winds, install the strap so that it is on the upwind side to minimize the risk that the tension in the cam buckle will be accidentally jarred loose in the fall.

Are ratchet straps better than cam buckle straps?

Recently, we spent a windy afternoon tipping over beehives. Don’t worry, no bees were harmed in the test as we used bee-less equipment. We tested single, double, and triple deep stacks, using both a simple tip over (just pushing the hive over from the top) and an aggravated vandal-style kick. The ratchet strap performed slightly better than the cam buckle in the kick-over tests, but otherwise they were similar. The one noticeable difference was that the ratchet strap proved easier to get tight enough to keep the boxes securely together. Which makes sense, since it offers a mechanical advantage. Getting the cam buckle tight enough to match the performance of a ratchet strap required much more arm strength. And neither strap prevented the boxes from coming apart if it was not really cranked down. In most cases, if either one was tightened down as much as possible, only the uppermost box shifted out of line, and even then, only as much as the thickness of the telescoping cover’s overhang. Otherwise the boxes, and the bees that might have been inside them, stayed intact.

What’s the best choice for hive straps?

First, if you already have either kind strap, use those. If what you have are the ubiquitous ratchet straps, but you’re unsure of how to use them, read below for some tips. If you don’t consider yourself particularly strong, ratchet straps may give you an edge in getting them tight enough to do the job.

Hooks can come with either cam buckle or ratchet straps. This kind of strap is intended for stretching between two fixed points (for instance across the bed of a pickup truck.) But they can also be used in a loop installation around a hive. Simply hook the hooks together to make a continuous strap with a free end and a tensioning device on the other end. Sometimes hooked-together straps take a little extra planning to avoid having the hooks fall at an awkward place such as under the hive.

What’s the best length for straps used around beehives?

Although you can buy straps in shorter lengths, the most common length is 12 feet. Until you’ve got a lot of supers on a hive, this is more strap than needed. Secure the extra length by daisy chaining the free end, folding it up and tucking it against the base of the hive or even adding a clothespin to keep it from flapping against the hive. Bees are exquisitely sensitive to vibrations and having the end of a ratchet strap constantly tapping on the hive will stress them.

Maintenance on hive straps

Cam buckle straps need no maintenance. Ratchet straps, because they are mechanical, should occasionally be lubricated with a penetrating lubricant such as WD-40™, taking care to avoid getting it on the strap. A little spritz of this before winter will also help avoid freeze-ups.

How to use a ratchet strap

Ratchet straps are one of those things you either “get”, or you don’t. Their seemingly-complex mechanism hides the fact that they are actually very easy to use, and they take all the effort out of tightening up straps. Here’s the secret to how they work.

If you look at the ratchet mechanism you’ll see it has two halves joined by a hinge-like spindle in the middle. There is slot in the spindle that the free end of the ratchet strap is threaded through, from back to front. As the ratchet is opened and closed, the ratchet’s teeth make the spindle rotate. This wraps the strap around the spindle, steadily taking up the slack. Once it’s tight, the teeth prevent the spindle from turning backwards and loosening until the operator releases the catches.

Install a ratchet strap with the free end running down under the hive and then up and over the top. This is the opposite pattern from how to install a cam strap and it reduces the chance that the strap will freeze up in very cold weather. Open the ratchet and find the slot in the central spindle. Insert the free end of the strap through the slot, from behind. If you think of the partly-open ratchet as a mouth, the tip of a correctly-inserted strap is a little like a tongue. Pull most of the strap through, leaving only about 6 inches of slack in the strap. Open and close the “jaws” of the ratchet, which starts to wrap the slack in the strap around the spindle. It takes no effort to do this as the mechanical parts of the ratchet do all the work. Once you can’t open the ratchet, it is as tight as it can get

To loosen a ratchet strap, first, open up the top half of the ratchet by pulling up on the spring-loaded bar. Fold the top part back until it is completely open and flat, Towards the end of the arc, you may feel a little resistance; That last part of the arc releases the tension on the spindle and allows you to depress and hold open the spring catch on the other half. With both springs pulled open (away from the center of the ratchet), you can start to pull the strap back through the ratchet mechanism. A little see-sawing action may be needed to get it started.

Like straps with cam buckles, ratchet straps are best installed so that they are below the top of the hive, but this is extra-important in areas where wet and freezing weather may occur. Having the ratchet mechanism on the side and facing downward allows moisture to drain away before it can freeze up.