I thought this was an old man's Hobby!!

Millenia said:

Obviously 70 year old men are much stronger than I am. I'm beginning to see the drawbacks of having a husband who isn't thrilled with my new hobby. I can get my son to help but he is planning to move to Texas soon.

I put 4 frames into a nuc and could barely lift it. My son had to lift it for me. Am I going to have to do weight lifting just to be able to work my bees? Go to all shallow supers? How can a bunch of bugs be so darned heavy?

You guys talk about getting your wives to help, what about a husband? He will build me whatever I want, but he won't go near the bees!

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I think you are definitely a candidate for 8 frame mediums. This is the lightest setup that is still practical. As for getting your husband to help, I guess you could tell him no honey (either kind) unless he helps (make sure you have a suit for him and gloves). LOL

Buy him a complete beekeeper's suit from head to toe. Then drag him out to them and let him get "close" to the girls. He's just got to get over the fear of getting stung. Once you get him out there make sure you do a full frame by frame inspection and find the queen and show him the diff up close. Worked perfect for getting my wife involved and now she don't wear a suit just a veil.

I have a long Lang that is 4 feet long. It fits about 30 frames. It is a deep and each frame is heavy when it is full of honey. Your hubby could make you a long Lang that would fit medium frames and it would be much easier to manipulate. Once you have the hive body in position, you wouldn't have to lift any boxes, just lids and frames. When I am by myself, I use a cooler on wheels when I harvest honey. I use this hive at a friend's house so I can check it without bothering my hubby. Our hives at home are regular Langs. Here is a link to Michael Bush's site on the subject and how to lessen breaking you back:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshorizontalhives.htm

Actually, lifting weights in the off season is not a bad idea for your health and to make the beekeeping easier. I find doing dead lifts a few times a week makes the lifting much easier and less painful come spring and significantly reduces the chance of injury. Good luck with the husband.

My mother-in-law kept bees until she was 83. She just took an extra box out to the hives and removed a frame at a time and put them in the spare box. I tried to get her to use mediums for everything, but she didn't like it and went back to deeps for brood. Keep the edges of the frames clean of propolis so they can slide in and out of the box easily. On my hives I have to use all of my weight to force the frames back in (because I don't use my own advise). She kept hers pretty clean so frames came out okay. She harvested honey a frame at a time, which is fine with three hives and 2-3 medium supers per hive.

I mean to still be keeping bee's till I'm wayyyy old. thats the plan anyway!
i saw a video where a beekeeper changed out his old boxes with boxes that had been cleaned and freshly painted. cleaned off the frames of the propolis before he put em into the new box. he did this once a year for every hive. he would then take the older dirty boxes...clean them up from the propolis and repaint them. Makes a lot of sense and looks to be a good habit practice to have. I'm sure it makes it easier to work your hive if your not fighting propolis glue the whole time your in there.

rweakley said:

I think you are definitely a candidate for 8 frame mediums. This is the lightest setup that is still practical.

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I am running three frame shallows. They are light, but as you say, not very practical. My strong hives are almost forty feet tall.

:lpf: :lpf: :lpf:

drlonzo said:

Buy him a complete beekeeper's suit from head to toe. Then drag him out to them and let him get "close" to the girls. He's just got to get over the fear of getting stung. Once you get him out there make sure you do a full frame by frame inspection and find the queen and show him the diff up close. Worked perfect for getting my wife involved and now she don't wear a suit just a veil.

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Didn't work with my family..2 ultra breeze suits, 3 hooded veils, pants and gauntlets...none will go near them! It has been a year

I actually did start lifting weights to ensure I could handle the boxes alone lol. Well, that was one of the reasons that being said, I ordered all 8 frame mediums anyway, cause I know I'm going to be the only one handling them.

hilreal said:

Actually, lifting weights in the off season is not a bad idea for your health and to make the beekeeping easier. I find doing dead lifts a few times a week makes the lifting much easier and less painful come spring and significantly reduces the chance of injury. Good luck with the husband.

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+1 for deadlifts and weightlifting in general. I do it to prevent injury mainly.

Might I add, I'm sure I could handle them alone now, and I've also gained other benefits from lifting weights! Do it!

Eight frame mediums. Or eight frame shallows...

Or a long hive...

WBVC said:

Didn't work with my family..2 ultra breeze suits, 3 hooded veils, pants and gauntlets...none will go near them! It has been a year

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Yeah we are in the same boat. (notice the name dad AND sonsbees) well it's just dad. Son isn't as interested as he was. But he wants his share of the "Honey Money".

I'm in my seventies and planned to go to mediums, but tried manipulating one frame at a time and found it to be not much slower than handling full boxes. I now place a clean box on a portable bench beside the hive and transfer half the frames to it, I then exchange boxes leaving the clean box on the hive, I then complete the frame transfer, leaving me the empty old box that I clean before going to the next hive. I have my truck close by with empty boxes to place the honey frames in. I like this system so much that I would now use it regardless of the weight problem. My equipment stays cleaner too.

Swarms, get him hooked on catching and chasing swarms. It's an out and out blast, better then fishing or golfs, very addictive also.

Wife talked me in to 2 hives for her garden back in 2011, now we've got something like 40 and she hates swarm season with a passion.

Hey, go to go I think I here the bee phone now

D Semple said:

Swarms, get him hooked on catching and chasing swarms. It's an out and out blast, better then fishing or golfs, very addictive also.

Wife talked me in to 2 hives for her garden back in 2011, now we've got something like 40 and she hates swarm season with a passion.

Hey, go to go I think I here the bee phone now

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That's awesome! If only......I was explaining to him and my son how you hang a nuc in a tree as a swarm trap. He wanted to know how "I" was going to get down a full box of bees because he certainly wasn't going to. ...sigh...