Second Deep Tilting Platform
Dick Vermeulen
The platform
I did bee school and got my beautiful nuc on May 7th this year. Fed them 60 pounds of sugar and gave them a reasonably good looking home. Very excited to see if I can be a beekeeper and lend a hand instead of getting in their way. The first 10 frame deep ran out of room on June 2nd and I added the second deep. My queen was laying well and the population was expanding nicely. When I lifted my second deep off my one and only hive the last week of June, something had definitely changed.
At bee school, Lincoln showed us a two level hive stand so you can tilt the second deep on to a platform and avoid lifting the box. I didn’t need that! How heavy can it be? 60 pounds. I am not that weak. I can lift it – no problem. Well you know I did lift it, I had to put it someplace so down it went on top of my inner and outer covers already on the ground. That was pretty easy going down and not killing any bees. Putting the hive back together, I now have to bend over and lift the 60 pound box up into place and not crush any bees! Did the box get heavier sitting on ground? Okay maybe that two level hive stand is not such a bad idea after all!
All seasoned beekeepers know frames run front to back – so if you place the tilting platform on the side of the hive and tilt the box in that direction – all the frames will mush together and you’re going to kill some bees and get a head bump or two. Being a newbeek, I didn’t realize that until after I built my platform, installed it on my hive stand and opened the hive. I was able to twist the second deep 90° until I could set it down on the platform and have the frames hanging vertically. The bees were happy I didn’t kill any – this time. But I thought a redesign could find a better solution that only required the box to be tilted, land squarely and have the frames hang correctly.
My new idea for the platform places it on the front of the hive. I can pry the back end of the second deep apart and rotate it forward on to the platform and be done. By rotating on the front edge of the box, I lift half the weight. Easy to scooch it forward six inches to give more room to inspect the bottom deep without bumping into bees on the bottoms of the frames in the titled box. Perfect.
Well maybe not! If I had remembered anything from my physics courses I should have known that when you place a 50 pound load out on an unsupported beam solidly connected to the bottom box that simply rests on the hive stand – it causes rotation. As I was setting the second deep down on this newly designed platform the back end of the bottom box began to lift and the whole colony started to fall forward. I caught it in time and pushed it back. That would have caused more than a one or two head bump disaster. This better idea will shortly be going into my kindling pile.
My redesigned platform on the front
of the hive that did not work.
I have come to the conclusion that moving some heavy boxes around is part of the beekeeper’s craft. I need to learn how to do it efficiently and minimize the amount of bending over. Back to my first platform design. Also dusting off the Bowflex and bicycle trainer. Yep, not that strong.
If you ask the bees what I am doing, I am sure you would get some interesting answers. I think they might ask me to just build blue bird houses and leave them bee.
Second deep up on the platform.
