Question About Pallet Hoisting

[belt152]

Hi Guys,
I was thinking about making up some pallet hives for pollination next year. I would like to use something like a 16' trailer with a hoist. It would resemble the one Kelley's sell here:

http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleys...sp?product=220

Can anyone using this type of set up tell me how the pallets are removed from the trailer? Does one put 4 eye bots at the corners of the pallets for hoisting or is a "Bobcat" type set of forks required? Or is there only 1 eye bolt in the very center of the pallet?

Totally in the dark in this one....

Thanks in advance!

[No_Bivy]

pallet forks on the skid steer........= no problem

[belt152]

I don't have an skid steer but I though maybe just the fork attachment would work.

[odfrank]

One centered eyebolt would not make for a balanced, stable load.

[Tom G. Laury]

You can build or have built a boom for loading single hives ( bot brds ) pretty reasonable and they work good. For pallets you need a forklift, truck and trailer.

[JohnK and Sheri]

You can build or have built a boom for loading single hives ( bot brds ) pretty reasonable and they work good. For pallets you need a forklift, truck and trailer.

Ditto the above, I don't think many if any move pallets with a boom, a swinger or bobcat with forks is used.
Sheri

[greenbeekeeping]

For moving bees with the boom like Kelleys the hives are moved singly. Some of the single pallets I have seen are noting but a bottom board with cleats attached to the bottom for the forks to go underneath.

Here is a picture of a set of forks.
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/loader/loader1.jpg

Couple of pictures further down the page
http://www.extension.uiuc.edu/~vista...T6/chapt6.html

a few more
http://www.herbee.com/page4.htm


Matt

[BEES4U]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mVQu...eature=related

Ernie

[HarryVanderpool]

We have a friend that moves entire pallets with a boom.
It wouks really good for him.
Watch heavy equipmant auctions from utility companies.

http://orsba.proboards27.com/index.c...ead=974&page=1

[belt152]

That is exactly what I was looking for. A picture is worth a thousand words.
I would imagine the boom on Kelley's setup would hoist a 4 way pretty easy.
I was thinking since the trailer was low to the ground it would require a "super duty" hoist. One could just lift and swing to the side of the trailer and move one.

I wonder what type of set-up he uses on the top of pallets for the hoisting?
Maybe I will try and contact him.

Thanks!

[JohnK and Sheri]

Belt152
Not trying to talk you out of something you have your heart set on but I am curious about this as it seems there would be major drawbacks to what you can do with a boom and trailer, drawbacks that a forklift alleviates. If you are working alone would you constantly have to move the truck to different unloading points, then get out and do the hoisting? Manually attaching the hoist to each pallet must take some time? Do you then need to jump down and release the hoist or is there a self release mechanism of some kind? Sounds like a good way to get your exercise for sure. Working with two others would help this process, I suppose. With the forklift you basically park the truck and do all the moving at one time, never having to get off the forklift.
Am I correct in extrapolating that Claude from Harry's pic is running about 250 colonies? I can see if you had only a few colonies or were doing short haul loading/unloading yourself you could save lots of $$ going the hoist route but that would be offset by much additional time spent and the limitations of holding yard setup and access. If you plan on getting to the point (and if not, this might be totally irrelevant) of loading bees on semis would a hoist be practical at all? Is anyone doing this on a large commercial scale?

I think you are smart talking to someone who uses this type of setup, keeping in mind your individual goals. I suppose the questions I just asked are the ones you want to ask yourself. I would be interested in what you find out as we have had a few folks just starting out ask us about hoists as well.
Sheri

[belt152]

Hi Sheri,
Thanks for the post. I don't really have my heart set on the trailer idea but it seemed the least inexpensive way to "test the waters" where I live. Other than some local apple orchards and a few pumpkin patches there is not much in the of commercial pollination needs.
I was thinking of setting up only 8-12 pallets and seeing what demand there would be.
Most of the places I would be setting the hives have farm tractors with forks so once I got them there I would be a problem moving them.

Any thoughts?

[JohnK and Sheri]

I think the set up you are envisioning would work fine, in fact it would be a real luxurious one for that scale, but will save your back in the long run.

John didn't even own a forklift or a pallet for that matter until he had in the neighborhood of 800 colonies. He would move those bottom board colonies he needed to by picking them up, putting them on the back of the flat bed then putting them back down by hand, and his back reflects it! We weren't in pollination at all back then but still managed to need enough moved between home and the outyards to have justified palletizing years before.

If you ever wanted to expand to where the numbers justified it you could go the forklift route at that point. Keep in mind in your figuring though, that honey supers can be hauled with a forklift also, plus you can plow snow, tow your beetruck out when it gets stuck and a whole host of other things with that swinger/forklift. Next to the bee truck, I think it is the single most important piece of equipment in our operation.
Sheri

[No_Bivy]

You can pick up gear cheap right now......check out the tree and landscape trader......lots of good deals in there

[belt152]

I have also pondered using a Tommy-Lift type tailgate along with bottom board hives.

This system would probably suffice a beginning pollinator.

Any thoughts or pointers from people using this system?

[sqkcrk]

You can pick up gear cheap right now......check out the tree and landscape trader......lots of good deals in there

Yeah, I know a guy near here who has a brand new Gehl skid steer for $18,000.00. Only one hour on it. That's cheap for new.