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Truck Mounted Cranes

67K views 59 replies 27 participants last post by  marios 
#1 ·
What other truck mounted cranes are being used for beekeeping? If a Ezyloader cost $25K I need to find something more in my price range.
 
#4 ·
The Ezloader must be for a rather specialized use.... one that I am not familiar with. I know our 10K trailer + 753 cost more like 12K. But then again there may be some specialized reasons for the EZloader these days... maybe Ian would like to list a few - I am sure he has his reasons.
 
#8 ·
I have switched to the escape board to clear bees, the loader allows me to lift the honey over the board, and then off the hive on to the truck without any effort.

I have a guy that has worked with me for a number of years. At the end of the first pull, he told me , "Ian, kinda feels like we are cheating"

No lifting, no blowers, no fume boards.
just a bit slower running escape boards as compaired to 5 guys and fume boards

In stead of hiring off shore help this year to take off my honey, I bought in the esyloader and hired a couple of kids. Works for my operation. We run 750 hives for honey
 
#9 ·
I dont have off shore help either. Instead its just my leaf blower my skid steer and my back. Bee escapes for 750 hives is interesting. Not to get too off topic but tell us how long does it take to set that up and get all the bees out of the supers?

I can see the nice funcationality of the truck lifts and considered buying a truck with a lift a few years back when I lived in KC but I never did it, bought the skid steer instead. I guess we all make our business decisions based upon what we expect out of it.
 
#10 ·
I only ran 300 hives and a truck loader worked fine for me with 5 moves per year. I started in bees with a weak back (not smart) and would set my yards where in the spring and fall I could sit on one hive and work the next. During our heavy honey flows I found if I Under supered, I would make more honey. With the crane, I could lift 2,3 or 4 supers off with no exertion and slide an empty under. For inspection when they start getting heavy in the fall, I can pop the top box off and inspect and medicate. Push the button, no lifting.
Those are my reasons for a truck crane. Try that with a fork lift. My loader loaded 2 hives at a time on the truck, so it took 4 times longer than a fork lift to load the truck. BUT on California's poooor highways, I am not restricted to the destroyed right two lanes with truck and crane.
 
#11 ·
>> leaf blower my skid steer and my back

ya, thats was my set up

>>tell us how long does it take to set that up and get all the bees out of the supers?

I set four yards of 32 one day, pull them off the next, extract the following. The avaliability of boxes restricts how many yards I can pull each day. IF I get into a good rythem, I can have supers in the honey house for rain days. As the pull progresses, and I accumulate more boxes, I will set until I run out of equipment, pull till the hot room is full, and extract. This year I extracted 120000 lbs in twenty or so days during the pull

I change over one box, and leave the hives over the escape boards 1 or 2 nights. At the beginning I needed 2 nights, but as things went on, I found most bees had left after one night. And by that I mean 85-90%

The escape boards follow all the same rules as puling with other methods. If there is brood up there, no bees leave. Also any cracks in the upper supers will cause problems with robbing. I found out the hard way.

ONe point to mention, if your honey supers have had brood in them, even as far back as last season, the bees will be slow to clear
 
#15 ·
3-4 supers per hive on 32 hive yards, 4-6 yards setting one day, pulling after one night or two. Its a bit slower than humping boxes. This is my first year using the boards. I have learnt alot of tricks to quicken things up. Looking towards next year, I will be on the same pace if not quicker than humping boxes. Timing is alot of it. But you can also look at it this way. Its alot easier to deal with weather issues. If you set all your boxes, and it rains. Pick them up after the rain. no worry about setting boxes into a down pour :)

You cant beat 5 guys pulling boxes off a yard. This machine used with the escape boards is not going to keep up to that pace. But if you can pull and extract an average of 1-2 yards per day ( 1st pull honey volume) your looking at 12-14 days to tackle 25 yards and barrel 75000 lbs of first pull honey. Thats what I did anyway. I want to try to cut that time down to 10 days.
 
#16 ·
I have my hives set up on two hive migratory style pallets. Today I set out from the dinner table at 1, and was back at the yard with 80 hives from two yards 6 miles apart by 3:30. Its how I am moving all my hives now. Makes better use of my investment.

I dont think its what you migratory beekeepers would use. Lifting a 4 way is right to its max, and I know two ways arnt as handly loading semi trailers. If you got the guys anyway, why invest in a lift machine, right?
 
#20 ·
I dont think its what you migratory beekeepers would use. Lifting a 4 way is right to its max, and I know two ways arnt as handly loading semi trailers. If you got the guys anyway, why invest in a lift machine, right?
I think thats right on the dot Ian. I think if a fella is running 400-800 hives or so and doing nothing more than local pollination, then the eziloader is probably a good investment, especialy if your going at it alone. we're not getting any younger and anything that can help us lift supers, hives, ect, is going to save your back. A couple of reasons why I want to stay away from forklifts is they or bulky and carried on a trailer thats hard enough to navigate, they are, IMO, harder on the body and the bees, and it's another mechanical worry on which there's more parts that could break down, and those parts won't break at a time when you don't need it.

I'm still building my operation and using a hydrolic tailgate on a 8 1/2' X 15' deck and using a cart to move the bees. I most certianly am looking forward to the day when I can mount an eziloader to make life not only 'ezier' but much more fun.
 
#22 ·
Agreed Chillard. The cranes would be ideal for certain operations. It can certainly be a real pain pulling, or maneuvering a loader on a trailer at times. Its kind of like a big anchor back there especially in some tough off road conditions. But you cant load/unload semis or heavy pallets of honey and you are always limited to setting your hives only on ground adjacent to where you can drive your truck and where no overhead limbs can interfere. It is pretty routine for us to stop at a nice flat loading area a short distance from where we want to place the hives and use our loader to just "truck" them in. All that said I can see some real advantages to this set up for some operations.
 
#27 ·
Api-culture crane

API-CULTURE LLC manufactures three models of crane:

FIRST ONE
Weight: 450kg
Length: 2.15metres
Range: 5 metres + 1 metre extension
Loading capacity: 230kg at 5 metres
180kg at 6 metres
Exw price (excluding taxes): 16,500€
Availability: Available

SECOND ONE
Weight: 300kg
Length: 2.15 metres
Range: 5 metres
Loading capacity: 80kg at 5 metres
Exw price (excluding taxes): 14,500€
Availability: Available on request

THIRD ONE
Weight: 300kg
Length: 1.90 metres
Range: 5 metres + 1 metre extension
Loading capacity: 80kg at 5 metres
100kg at 4 metres
Exw price (excluding taxes): 15,500€ - 1,000€ (introductory price)
Availability: Being processed


Have a look at http://www.materiel-apiculture.fr/la-grue-api-culture
Ask for more information contact@api-culture.fr
 
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