Spiralling out of control!

[pargyle]

Or a half wit with a death wish?

Why don't you go to the local council or plant hire people - or the builders working on the cathedral (with press in tow) and ask if they can help - cherry picker outside to bring them down in a thrice? QUOTE]

I'm with JBM on this ... the real answer is to get someone to help ... has the Cathedral got a choir or Scout troop ? Lots of plastic bags ... one frame each at a time so there's one hand for the rope and one for the bag. From memory Scouts will do anything for a bun at the end of it !

A Cherry picker is a good solution though ... have a word with Hewden Hire - their head office is just down the road from you opposite Old Trafford. They might like the publicity of mounting a rescue operation.

I think it was Roger Dartington who faced the same problem and it was a spriral staircase to his London roof top apiary that led him to the Dartington hive and the half size supers he used on it. Perhaps your answer for next year (when you have even more hives !) is to modify your supers by splitting them in two and putting a handle on one side of them. Couple of plywood lids and a ratchet strap and you're sorted.

 

[Excession]

Parachutes for the supers and chuck them off?

Honey from Heaven!!!

 

[Little John]

Lowering them by rope from the roof, is not a serious option.

Wondering why that is ... ?

A NUC-sized box with a bridle secured to all four corners - a stout pole with a block ('pulley' to land-crabs) at one end to clear any wall-mounted obstructions - and a good length of decent rope should do the job, I'd have thought. That's how I've recovered roof-slates (to be re-used) several times over the years.

I appreciate it's at a fair height, so there may be a case for adding a much lighter rope to trail from the NUC box down to the ground, for a second person to control, to keep the box from swaying.

Set up beforehand, shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to clear 30 frames if they're already bagged ?

LJ

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A Cherry picker is a good solution though ... have a word with Hewden Hire - their head office is just down the road from you opposite Old Trafford. They might like the publicity of mounting a rescue operation.

There you are see - sniggering indeed

Perhaps your answer for next year (when you have even more hives !) is to modify your supers by splitting them in two and putting a handle on one side of them.

Or have a quiet word with the builders and have them build a sneaky little extracting room up on the roof

 

[pargyle]

There you are see - sniggering indeed


Or have a quiet word with the builders and have them build a sneaky little extracting room up on the roof

Have a bit louder word and get them to extend the heating up there as well, couple of deck chairs (one for the feet) and a bottle of communion wine - who needs a home to go to ?

 

[Luminos]

Why don't you go to the local council or plant hire people - or the builders working on the cathedral (with press in tow) and ask if they can help - cherry picker outside to bring them down in a thrice? good publicity for the firms involved and good press for your local rag. They could make a bit of a do about it - you coming down with supers in the crane in your best party frock!

Yep, I'm with JBM on this one

 

[alldigging]

Police helicopter winching it down?

It is in Manchester of course so just let the scallies know it's worth something and they'll have it at ground level within minutes and you just face the problem of getting it off them.

Bagged up sep and then carried down few at a time.

You have currently got the digit festival on in town so is there any useful machinery around (esp. when they're taking it all down again)?

 

[Outlander]

Make a sledge up Dusty. Only has to be as big as a super so sqare of ply two runners . Strap super on and a person on the back end controlling the rate of decent a person on front with rope to guide it.

As a fallen catholic boy I still think it's a wonderful thing you do in looking after our buildings, thank you.

 

[itma]

"3 maybe 4 supers" isn't a mammoth task.
Even down 43 steps.

A nuc box to carry 5 or 6 frames at a time. Got a poly nuc? If not, why not? Well just make a box 1 cubit by half a cubit and half a cubit tall. Call yourself a carpenter, Noah?
Maybe a shoulder strap of some sort.
Several torches fixed along the route. Electric, but there are probably fittings for the flaming variety. Head torches are cheap and useful.
A spare super at the bottom to unload the nuc into.
After emptying the first super at the top, bring it down to receive the contents of the second. And so on.
Have (bee-proof) base and cover (board?) at the top to prevent the bees getting interested in the removed, stacked supers.

Depending on your remaining colony strengths and extraction arrangements, you might think of removing and extracting two supers and returning them to the bees when you take the other two - so the bees don't suddenly become very congested and confused.

Its not rocket science - as Galileo said.

 

[psafloyd]

I'd have thought you don't want to be turning on the stairs, so a relay not an option.

How about walking the supers down backwards, wrapped in bin bags and resting them on the step as you back down?

Otherwise, get a small extractor up there to do the job in situ.

Or, given who it's for, couldn't you ask the Big Guy in the Sky to help out? Surely the people running the cathedral can put a chit in for some divine intervention? That way you may not even need to spin it out –*it could go straight into the jars...

Hi guys.


Got a problem. Need your ideas.
And no sniggering on the back row, jenkinsbrynmair!

The hive is in the roof of Manchester Cathedral.
Three, possibly four supers to be removed for extraction.
But the only way down is a narrow, spiral stone staircase - 43 steps down.
With only a thick rope to hold onto.
And largely in the dark as the electricity is turned off.

How can it be done, relatively safely and efficiently?
Without dropping honey all over the stairs.
And with a minimal casualty rate!

Lowering them by rope from the roof, is not a serious option.
I've got so far as to put each frame in a plastic bag to prevent dripping.


All serious entries may qualify for "get into heaven free" loyalty bonus points.


Dusty

[A photo of the top of the stairs can be found in my album. Don't know how to link it to this post.]

 

[hedgehog66]

RAF church and resue helicopter
Never know you might get prince william flying it
Winch them tobthe ground
Job done

 

[drstitson]

how do you intend moving full colonies to out apiary from that site if needs be?

 

[BeeJayBee]

But the only way down is a narrow, spiral stone staircase - 43 steps down.
With only a thick rope to hold onto.
And largely in the dark as the electricity is turned off.

How can it be done, relatively safely and efficiently?
Without dropping honey all over the stairs.
And with a minimal casualty rate!

Is there a Cathedral youth group/scouts/guides etc? If so you could give them some head torches, to light the stairs, and make it a challenge?

Or maybe you could cut out the comb in the evening, carry it down the stairs in buckets, and strain it somewhere else. It's keeping the comb intact for spinning that seems to be causing the problem.

 

[biglongdarren]

anybody tried praying?

Darren

 

[Toffeesmum]

Charity absail to raise money for church
Each person carries half a super in a rucksac
Novel idea, would make for good advertising of the event
Then becomes an annual event ..........

Good idea... what about asking the angels to fly them down (sorry, couldn't resist)... good luck all the same

 

[user 6228]

fixed rope down the centre of stairs.
nucs on a metal frame attached to friction brake on rope. There are wheels on side of frame where it touches the central column of the stairs

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

That's how I've recovered roof-slates (to be re-used) several times over the years.
LJ

Bit of a dab hand at removing roof coverings from religious buildings are we? (opens notebook, licks pencil)
Don't suppose you're a member of the caravan club?

 

[itma]

End of choir practice, one on every second step, passing single frames from hand to hand.
Bit of washing soda in the font and everyone goes home with clean hands and conscience.
Do it annually (1st Saturday before the football season?) and create your own tradition

 

[MuswellMetro]

four frames at a time in a rucksack and transfer to a empty super at the bottom of the stairs

 

[MMJ100]

Which dimbo bishop thought of putting the hive up there in the first place.

Was this a new project by A'bish Wonga Loan Welby?