Fatal height for swarm collecting?

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Poly Hive

Queen Bee
Joined
Dec 4, 2008
Messages
14,093
Reaction score
393
Location
Scottish Borders
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
12 and 18 Nucs
How high do you have to be off the ground to have a fatal fall?

This is aimed at swarm collectors so any elf and safety pros please back off. Thanks.

PH
 
so you don't want to know about the working at hieghts directive lol
5ft can be a bad fall, broken legs or even ribs and back damage.
 
At over 15ft if landing on your feet you can shatter your ankles and rupture the arch of the Aorta(you need open heart surgery for repair),I have treated said injury many many times over the years.

The problem is as you get older your back starts to arch and you lose a little hight,your cerebellum can't compensate so its a little like a 2 year old learning to ride a bike,you over compensate to regain your balance if you wobble.
 
interesting question.... it depends how you land!! (and what you land on!)

land on your feet and it can be quite a long way, land on your head and it can be from standing up.

Whilst parachuting and there is extensive science on terminal velocity, body weight ratio's and being conscious or not can make such a large difference.... even with a partly opened parachute, and landing feet first, you may of may not die depending on the angle of your legs.

I believe (??!?) the optimum height for a swarm is 15-20 metres from the ground so if you land upside down there is a fair chance of death! :ack2:
 
Stirling Moss seemingly missed his lift, his elevator lift, at his house and shattered his ankles down three stories.

IOW? Shurrrrrrrrrrrrrup please. I knows about the directive. I asked the pros to.........Shrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrup please. I did say please but the safety pros are poss not used to polite language... LOL

PH
 
my cousin jumped out of a 1st floor window during an argument with his wife, he shattered both ankles that night the tit. he's not the brightest spark.


I'd guess the window must have been about 12-15ft ish
 
Knew a guy who dived out a window having a leak, gouged his hands badly on gravel that needed hospital treatment but survived a 30ft fall.

However that is not the question. :)

PH
 
everyone please bee extreamly careful because when you injure your back its bloody painfull, and you never recover from it Trust me I know and i am on Morphine to prove it.
Think of your safety first and foremost.

Regards;
 
I was heavily jolted whilst driving offroad and trapped a nerve in my neck...

very painful, needed months of physio and the doctor warned me of paralysis.

... it's not how far you fall but how you land.
 
I'd ask a roofer and a tree surgeon and take the average :)

I guess you could cope with higher swarms more safely with a harness and some ropes, but you probably need some training with them or they could make injuries worse rather than better.

Get a really long BeeVac pipe.

FG
 
Is admin a doctor............?!
 
Are the swarm catchers as in Thorne's catalogue any good? Seem like a safe way of collecting a swarm if they work. However, I cant beleive they do work :)
 
I imagine they work but that is not the discussion so off you go and start another thread this one is about being DEAD.

PH
 
Ask yourself ,Can you change frames in a brood box and put on a third honey super, if you are in a wheelchair.

Never work off ladders ,at any height of the ground over 3ft

one leg on the rung, one on a branch, bow saw in left hand and swarm box in other..20ft off the ground on a swaying wooden ladder held up right by a freind....and then 20 thousand bees land on your freind as they miss the swarm box...not much chance of staying alive, let alone ending up in a wheel chair...but beeks do it, why???, is a £100 worth of bees worth death?
 
Last edited:
Ask yourself ,Can you change frames in a brood box and put on a third honey super, if you are in a wheelchair.

Never work off ladders ,at any height of the ground over 3ft

one leg on the rung, one on a branch, bow saw in left hand and swarm box in other..20ft off the ground on a swaying wooden ladder held up right by a freind....and then 20 thousand bees land on your freind as they miss the swarm box...not much chance of staying alive, let alone ending up in a wheel chair...but beeks do it, why???, is a £100 worth of bees worth death?

But it could be a good one
 
Seem to remember reading of a German chap who used some plastic piping that slotted together to reach high swarms - a hefty thump dislodged the swarm, which whizzed down the tube and was caught unharmed in some tights stretched over the bottom.
And if you think being on morphine is bad, it actually caused me a wry smile - a couple of years ago I was shoved on morphine, and took the entirely philosophical view that "well at least I get some fun drugs..........", and very briefly conjured a picture of a young Marianne Faithfull singing "Sister Morphine"..........until the effects kicked in, and I started "bouncing off the walls" (really didn't agree with me at all..........)
Probably best to be a devout coward regarding heights (I get giddy on a deep-pile carpet!):svengo:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top