[Adrian Quiney WI]

I was looking for a relatively ergonomic way to weigh my nucs. Lifting with the OD Frank handles is fine for the individual boxes, but when I lift the whole thing the bottom board will sometimes fall off. I came up with the idea of this sling using extra webbing my wife had bought for a carboy sling.
It works quite well and the colony stays together. Because of the skinny nature of nucs they fit quite well on this digital bathroom scale. I put some tape on it to hold the cardboard cover in place.

 

[treeWinder]

Very nice handiwork, thanks for sharing

 

[sqkcrk]

Why r u weighing them? Seems like what it would take to put the sling on is more work than picking the thing up and setting it on the scale itself. Looks nice. If it fits your needs, good. I'm just curious about why.

 

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Mark, after the bottom board has been removed and cleaned in the spring it falls off when the box is lifted by the handles. Also, I am only 5' 8" so I can not reach around the boxes as easily as someone bigger might be able to.
I am weighing them for data purposes. Most of the beekeepers in this area are trained to winter in 2 or 3 deeps. I am having good success with the 5 over 5 nuc, and I have been asked to speak again at a local club so I want to have data to present regarding how much they need to weigh in the fall, and their weight loss in the spring.
The sling means I can lift with less bending. Working steadily I weighed 9 of them in 40 minutes last week with this set up and nothing ripped.

 

[sqkcrk]

May I suggest a solution to bottom boards that fall off? I have nuc boxes w/ detachable bottom boards. They are held on to the box by wires and screws. There is a screw on the back and front face of the box and on the front and back ends of the bottom board. There are also two metal plywood spanners attatched to on side of the bottom board which the box fits into. When the box is set into the spanners a wire bail is used front and back between the two sets of screws.

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Adrian Quiney WI]

That does make sense, and I appreciate the tip. :thumbsup: