A medium super can weigh around 50 lbs and hefting them can certainly put your back out. I'm not so young anymore and I find my back complains more frequently with my activities.Dad and I developed a technique to use for inspections and when taking honey that works well for us. I found it really difficult to hold onto a 50 lb box and bend down to set it to the ground.
The lower I got the harder I found it to hang onto. Often when the box is a few inches from the ground I felt I was losing my grip.
Our hives are on a platform which is about 10" from the ground so that helps. When removing boxes we set them on a card table that we put next to the hive. That way the box is removed and set down at standing height.Another trick if you need to bend down with a heavy box is to set an empty deep on the ground and set the box on that instead.
Sometimes if my back is aching from bending over a super that's too low down I'll put an empty super under it to bring it higher up. Then the back ache goes away.
Why suffer if you don't have to?
Remember you only get one back in life so be sure to take care of it.
1 comment:
Amen sister! the super stack is my preferred system, no table top to squish bees ect. keeps them off the grass too :)
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