Mechanical device for lifting brood box/super

[Storm™]

you could adapt one of these. They are very strong - I used mine to move a small granite bath. Plus you can use it in several modes. I am sure Hedgerow Pete could suggest an adaptation. I think ours came from focus or argooose

http://cpc.farnell.com/1/1/19700-hand-truck-cst3b.html - based in Preston

or search the net for "hand truck"

 

[RoofTops]

I suspect the wheels are too thin and would sink into anything other than a hard surface. The purpose made hive movers tend to have big fat wheels and often either one or two close together as in the link to the video posted earlier. Otherwise they will be hard to push across rough ground, unless you went backwards I suppose. These were the problems I saw with the thing in the Bee Craft article - wheels too far apart and too small.

 

[Queens59]

Come on Rooftops - a new line for MBS maybe??

 

[Adam]

This is a cheaper manual version - http://www.swienty.com/shop/vare.asp?side=0&vareid=100901&catid=1203

Of course, the Warre crowd can't be seen to endorse them, as the idea that you need a £600 lifiting jig to lift the "peoples hive" would make it work out rather too expensive - more than a national, and half their argument is how cheap the whole thing is.

For many people however, they do need to buy all the items - they are not particularly handy / have no time to make complex items up and as a result, it makes the Warre substantially less attractive. Even the wooden thing requires you to be fairly handy, and I wouldn't want to lift all that much weight with it - it's a huge turning moment on the feet at the bottom.

Adam

 

[hedgerow pete]

just out of intrest ,

there was a guy selling a filling cabinate style bee hive at the spring show and there was also someone that had some form or steel tube that was screwed to the one set of corners to your own hive so it lifted slightly and then swung round to the side,

i have no details but there are products on the market but they are not designed to carry the hives just to allow you to move the supers out of the way of the brood box to allow inspections

able that is all you realy need as most beeks dont do bee hive movements to often preffering a fixed apiary rather than the more professional approch or moving hives about

i think you are much better off getting either split supers or ease of lifting

 

[DulwichGnome]

As promised, a few photos of my Lifting Apparatus (LA). It's basicly two 'A' frames with a cross beam on top, the pulley-blocks in the beam are the kind you get in sash windows and the wheel has four 'safety' holes which can lock it in place. I used it this year when I needed to lift a full double BB to put another two boxes underneath.

It's not suitable to leave up so I plan to build it into my 'Bee Hut' (when I find time to build it!!).

Mike.

 

[drstitson]

looks like you're either building a pyramid or laying siege to Masada!!!!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Madame La Guillotine - a rather elaborate wasp decapitator

Seriously - a fine looking piece of kit, some of the stuff you guys build is pretty amazing to us cack-handed fools

 

[DulwichGnome]

Madame La Guillotine - a rather elaborate wasp decapitator

Seriously - a fine looking piece of kit, some of the stuff you guys build is pretty amazing to us cack-handed fools

A back ground of scenic carpanter and props builder does help!!

 

[liz30hob]

In follow up to 'hedgerow pete' and the 'filing cabinet' style bee hive he had seen. it can be looked at using the link: http://www.drawhive.co.uk/

Roy

 

[Dishmop]

Three scaffold poles to make a tripod and a block and tackle for engine lifting or an electric winch run from a car battery.

 

[b2bnz]

The best way to reduce the weight of your supers would be to go to 3/4 or 1/2 height supers. If you look at Michael Bush's website at www.bushfarms.com he gives the weights of various supers you can expect when full of honey.

 

[hedgerow pete]

liz30hob, thats what i had seen at the spring show,

whilst not for me, i did think it was one of the most sensible products for bees i had seen for ages,

As for the rest of this thread, i totaly understand what and why you all do what you do but as a KISS member why not just remove full frames as they are ready or do half width supers, do you realy need to have four supers on at once two is enough and just change when full??

 

[DulwichGnome]

As for the rest of this thread, i totaly understand what and why you all do what you do but as a KISS member why not just remove full frames as they are ready or do half width supers, do you realy need to have four supers on at once two is enough and just change when full??

Mine was built so I could lift two full boxes without breaking them apart. In the spring it was a lot easier to have someone with me and take off the over wintered boxes, as one, stack the new boxes and replace the colony back on top. This autumn I decanted the frames with honey into 5 frame nuc boxes and took away the empty BB's.

Mike.