Some of the hardest work we have to do is shifting colonies between pallets. Culling, consolidating and so on. Like if you are shipping out for pollination.
I hate to think how many times, how much damage I did to my self...
Mann Lake sells these hand truck kind of things that grip a box from the side by either the handhold or cleat. They are just outta sight. Doubles, triples, rough ground, no sweat. You ( or hired man ) can set them down on clips with ease.The balance and tire size are perfect. $350 more or less I love it.
Here is a question related to moving boxes. On the boxes I built, I only put handholds on the front and back. This means that when I use a dolly like this, I will be leaning the hive sideways. Is that going to raise the chances that I will break some comb?
If you can push or pull the hive up the ramp the cart will hold on to the boxes,a real handy tool to have around when filling in pallets or moving bees.
Time saver but more important a "back"saver. We use the heck out of these for consolidating hives for pollination. It would be twice the work and much slower without it.
What ever you want to call it-Keiths deal works slick. Works good with 1 person and great with 2 people. Make that great with 1 person as compared to squat and lift. I have used it many times, now I just need Keith to let me measure it! O-yea it folds up to fit behind your seat.
Jack
Something that we did at the last place I worked was streching before we started the days work and the supervisor would give us the details of what we were going to be doing and answer any questions as well. we called it the tool box talk but i suppose as beeks we would call it the tail gate meeting. I have started streching before getting into my bees and it makes a big difference.
I have seen Keith's device and it looks like it works real slick. If you need some further prototype field testing let me know. That thing could put some chiropractors out of work.
With 4000+ colonies and only 5 guys we have to work pretty fast. When we are doing a major move, like pulling bees out of (cue up ominous music) The Valley (California's Imperial Valley, 120 degrees in the summer, no breeze) we work in teams of three. One guy on the Swinger, and two guys 'putting together' pallets. With two guys carrying a colony by the cleats, back strain is reduced to a tolerable level. It works well, two guys putting together pallets to fill empty spots from deadouts and smoking the colonies matches the speed that the guy on the Swinger can load the truck.
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