dexterity v weight lifting

[Nige.Coll]

how much of beekeeping is reliant on manual dexterity compared to being able to lift heavy weights ?
only reason i ask is that my wrist is scrap and they are talking about fusing it.
i can just manage to inspect bees atm but i cannot lift heavy weights.
getting someone to lift things isn't hard as i can pay someone but long term it doesn't look good.
i haven't owned bees long so i have no idea how heavy supers are when full.
my bees are placed so i can drive upto them but i have no idea how much lifting is involved.
fusing my wrist will dramatically reduce any dexterity in that hand maybe both as both are not very good.

just looking for some advice

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's rotten news. Not just supers to heft about but full brood boxes
Have you thought about a Top Bar Hive. You could still enjoy the bees without the lifting.

 

[drex]

Full National supers are, I think, about 30 lbs.
Plenty of lifting in "conventional" beekeeping. I run a top bar as well as Nationals. No lifting to speak about.

 

[mbc]

I know a very competent beekeeper who only has one arm.

 

[MartinL]

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Have you thought about a Top Bar Hive. You could still enjoy the bees without the lifting.

Always thought of top bar hives as a little geeky/oldie-worldie.
A sort of ritual beekeeping thing, followed by sealed-knott re-enactment types, who dress up and pretend they've gone back in time. In this case, I can see that it could be a realistic alternative for you.

However, the comb will need to be handled with a little more care and dexterity, remember NO Frame or wires to reinforce it.

 

[chicken]

Are in the local association?

You could appeal for a newbee to come help you? Where roughly are your bees?

 

[Nige.Coll]

I know a very competent beekeeper who only has one arm.

both my wrists are knackered lol 1 good arm would be a bonus atm

 

[DulwichGnome]

However, the comb will need to be handled with a little more care and dexterity, remember NO Frame or wires to reinforce it.

You can use a wire loop on the top bar, a bigger version of the photo, which can help. Also, because of the sloping sides of a TBH you can lift just one side of the frame, having separated it from the others, so you do not need to lift the whole weight of the frame. I will try and take a photo of one at the weekend.

If and when I need to make any more I would put a 'eye' with the wire in the bottom corners and have fishing line going up to the center of the top bar.



Mike.

Photo from http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/kirchhainframe.html

 

[pargyle]

My Long Deep Hive ... Roof is hinged so I don't have to lift it off. Floor is connected by hive clips and drops down onto two rails so I can just pull it out .. reinstatement is one side clipped up, then just lift the other into place and clip it up.

Heaviest thing I have to lift is a 14 x 12 frame of stores/brood .. and even that is at a perfect height for me to lift from ... just below my waist height.

Only problem is ... the whole hive is so heavy that it takes 2 strong men to lift it - but as I won't need to move it very often (occasional turn through 180 degrees for an in-situ AS) it's not a problem.

I thought about Top Bar Hives when I started (back problems in the past) and even built one ... but, there are a few disadvantages (lack of frames, side attachment of combs. fragility of unsupported comb etc.) that directed me away from them. Also .. I liked the idea of having a framed format (14 x 12) that would be more in harmony with the rest of the beekeeping world ... and would provide some possibilities for bought in frames etc. if I got tired on making my own ! (Which I did ... and succumbed to the Thornes Sale !).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99514363@N06/

 

[Nige.Coll]

Are in the local association?

You could appeal for a newbee to come help you? Where roughly are your bees?

yes i'm in the association probably the same one your in L&RBKA.
i'm a newbee myself not got a full year under my belt yet.
already told the consultant no more surgery til after the busy season has passed . he said he can't do anything yet as the last operation hasn't healed .
problem is the next things they want to do will stop me driving and could take me out for upto a year .
waiting for MRI scan on my better wrist can't make any decisions til they do that.
talk about raining on my parade mine has been washed away in a tsunami

 

[psafloyd]

I know a very competent beekeeper who only has one arm.

 

[psafloyd]

My Long Deep Hive ... Roof is hinged so I don't have to lift it off. Floor is connected by hive clips and drops down onto two rails so I can just pull it out .. reinstatement is one side clipped up, then just lift the other into place and clip it up.

Heaviest thing I have to lift is a 14 x 12 frame of stores/brood .. and even that is at a perfect height for me to lift from ... just below my waist height.

Only problem is ... the whole hive is so heavy that it takes 2 strong men to lift it - but as I won't need to move it very often (occasional turn through 180 degrees for an in-situ AS) it's not a problem.

I thought about Top Bar Hives when I started (back problems in the past) and even built one ... but, there are a few disadvantages (lack of frames, side attachment of combs. fragility of unsupported comb etc.) that directed me away from them. Also .. I liked the idea of having a framed format (14 x 12) that would be more in harmony with the rest of the beekeeping world ... and would provide some possibilities for bought in frames etc. if I got tired on making my own ! (Which I did ... and succumbed to the Thornes Sale !).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/99514363@N06/

What design did you follow for that hive, Pargyle? My brother has offered to make me one and I like the idea of the hinged roof.

 

[pargyle]

What design did you follow for that hive, Pargyle? My brother has offered to make me one and I like the idea of the hinged roof.

Well ... I didn't have a design ... it sort of evolved from the timber that I had available, two previous top bar hives that I made ~ a Kenyan TBH with sloping sides which was converted into a Tanzanian top bar with straight sides which was then converted into a framed long hive (and then I learned about bee space !) so I started again !!

When it was finished I finally discovered that, to a great extent, I had reinvented the Long Deep Hive - otherwise known as a Dartington !

There's nothing new in beekeeping it seems ..

So - I don't have any formal plans but if you want I will take some measurements and PM you with them.

Phil

 

[alldigging]

Do you have an other half would could be roped in?

 

[busybee53]

I use Nationals but try to avoid too much lifting. Main problem is the brood box. When I need to move it I get a helper. Usually this means in the autumn when I put the super underneath, in the spring when I change it back and if the whole thing needs moving to one side for artificial swarming. So three times a year, although some people do not believe in putting the super under for the winter - which would make it once a year.

The supers are not too much of a problem because once the super gets too heavy for me I prefer to remove sealed frames for extraction and return them wet for the bees to refill. I have heard that you do get more honey this way but you get more mess too.

Alternatively I have been known to take a spare super with me to put half the frames in and then the super on the hive is a lot lighter to lift. If there is a second full super on the hive there is now a space in the super previously removed to put half the frames from the second super into. Just reverse the process when putting the hive back together.

To be fair I probably would not leave two full supers on anyway. Although there is more mess I find a few small extraction sessions better than one big one which takes all day.

Plus I am too short and prefer not to have to stand on things to reach the supers. Two is my limit.

Hopefully this will help with the lifting, as to the inflexibility of your wrist; why not try bandaging up your wrist so that it will not move and then using some spare equipment see how you get on with "inspecting" some frames, using the hive tool etc.

Good luck

 

[Travelator]

I keep bees in a pretty "conventional" way and it seems to involve a *LOT* of heavy lifting.

However, having thought about it a bit, I don't think there is very much manual dexterity required, apart from some specialised tasks like queen marking / clipping / grafting which not all beekeepers need to do. And of course, some beekeepers do everything wearing leather gloves, which definitely suggests that you can do without very fine control.

So... I know there are ways of beekeeping which involve much less heavy lifting, but I would also argue that you can keep bees without needing too much dexterity.