I know some of you might make fun of me, but the flow super is so heavy at the end of the season and I have had a hard time the past couple brood checks to lift it off… I really think I’m going to damage myself or the colony. What do other people out there do to manage the weight? Do I take it apart? Any and all tips are appreicated.
2 Likes
I’m no muscle bound hulk of a guy so what I do when I want to do a brood inspection is to extract the flow frames that are capped the day before I plan on doing the inspection. On the day of the inspection I have a spare box at the hive and take each frame out of the super till it is a very easy lift to place it on another empty box. Then I fit a frame rack on the side of the brood box that will hold a few frames of brood so that it is easy to do the inspection without the risk of rolling any bees, especially the queen. Ok, you will need a couple of Langstroth boxes but it will make light work of the job.
Only do an inspection when it is a warm day above 20C and little wind so that the brood won’t get chilled.
Welcome to the forum, there is lots of good reading and bee keepers happy to give advice and tips as you learn.
Cheers
2 Likes
Hi Joanna, I’m confident no one will laugh at you. I’m also no muscle bound hunk. I do much the same as Peter when lifting honey supers off before brood inspection. If a lot of frames are near empty, I’ll lift the super intact. If most of the frames are nearly full, I’ll remove 3 or 4 frames from the middle before lifting it off. We need to look after ourselves if we want to keep beekeeping long term.
4 Likes
Thank you both. This is what I’ll do. Cheers
1 Like