Hi all,

As you know by now, this is my first year and I have two hives going and I
live in SE Nebraska.  My two hives are presently on a crest of the hill
where they get great morning sun to get them up and moving right away, but
as anyone knows about the plains states, we get wind too.  Last night I
spent a sleepless night as we had wind gusts well over 40-50 mph around my
house.  I knew the hives were getting the brunt of it.  Tonight it was
still gusty, but not quite as much so.  However, it was still tossing the
bees around and causing several to crash land in front of the hives.

My question is two fold:  first, how much wind does it take to blow hives
over that are 4 deeps high (open ended question, I know, but
generalizations are welcomed), and two, I am thinking of moving the hives
off the crest and down on the leeward side of the slope near a tree line
this winter.  In so doing, though, they would not get sun on the hive until
a couple hours later in the morning (9:00-10:00ish).  Again, I would not do
this until this winter so as not to disrupt their flights and so on now
during our flow which is happening now.  Is it more important to get them
out of the wind or get them morning sun?  There's really nowhere on my
property to acheive both.  I am also tossing up the idea of a 6'-8' high
screening fence, but since I would like to expand to maybe 10 or so hives
in the next couple of years, that would require a lot of fencing.

Thanks,

Brad