# Hauling Bees---Best/Cheapest Way



## Ishi (Sep 27, 2005)

Cheapest way is to find a Bee truck with a boom that moves 1 hive at a time.
find one with leveling hydrolics if possable. Next is build a boom if you have the equipment to do so. If you need pics let me know.


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## Justin3 (Jun 10, 2010)

Pics would be great!!


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

Justin,

Everybody uses something different. Not knowing your what you have available to invest, it's hard to say. Do you plan in the future to expand to 500 or a K? 

I found a flat bed, either gas (V10) or diesel, your preference, pulling a trailer with a Bobcat w/t forks, and pallatize w/t screen BB a viable solution. You can move in & out fast if needed.

Your back will thank you later.

Kind regards


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## NEWSOM HONEY FARMS (Oct 31, 2008)

Plan according to what your doing in the future, your right next door to the almonds. Find a mentor or have a friend help you. If your only going to reach a maximum of 100, I would go rent a trailer. Good luck.


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## pahvantpiper (Apr 25, 2006)

Booms don't work too well in the almonds. I'd use a forklift.


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## carrojb (Jul 22, 2009)

Take a look at this method if your going to try to stick to a one man operation in the field,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h54MdnOcJvU


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

I am looking at getting a 1 ton and hand lifting for now....maybe a loader next year? 
Hint- renting a loader 2-3+ times a year is MUCH cheaper than buying and maintaining one!
Mike


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Listen to Ishi. You can move bees cheap & easy with a boom.


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## GageFamilyBeekeeping (Mar 10, 2011)

Ishi said:


> Cheapest way is to find a Bee truck with a boom that moves 1 hive at a time.
> find one with leveling hydrolics if possable. Next is build a boom if you have the equipment to do so. If you need pics let me know.


Could you post pics?


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

I vote on renting skid steer with forks. I rent one on a night only basis for just over 100 bucks per night. I only use it when I am 900 miles from home (renting is cheaper than pulling mine). If you want to move 100 hives I use a 16 (usable) ft gooseneck flatbed. I can easily fit 144 colonies on it though DD pushes me past the 26K CDL so I dont generally go over 96 colonies on it. 1 more pallet would not matter. If you look into the financial side you will notice running pallets is cheaper than BB and T lids.

Food for thought. What falls into your business plan?


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

Booms don't swing well around almond trees. And a boom truck doesn't get far on muddy orchard roads.

I love booms and have used them for many years. But almond pollination is more efficient
when the hives are on pallets.But going to pallets created a whole new set of problems for me (most of which can be solved with money-lots of money).


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## GageFamilyBeekeeping (Mar 10, 2011)

BMAC said:


> .... DD pushes me past the 26K CDL....... If you look into the financial side you will notice running pallets is cheaper than BB and T lids.



Hi, sorry for the ignorance, what is BB, DD and T lids?


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

BB = BOTTOM BOARDS, DD = DOUBLE DEEPS, TLIDS = TELESCOPING LIDS. Sorry folks too much time in military, it made me abbreviate everything. If I dont abbreviate it Ill turn it into an acronym.


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## rocky1 (Jul 19, 2009)

Boom is great for some applications, but as pointed out above, not necessarily so in orchards of any nature. Other pollination, cucmbers, squash, watermelons, etc. farmers sometimes like the bees spread around a bit, sometimes in the middle of the field, forklift is a better application there as well. If you're stuck... Boom doesn't do you any good; forklift can and often does get you out. Mine did twice last week. Forklift may have other applications around the farm, or provide part time work landscaping also. 

Both will save your back, one is attached to your truck eternally with limited application, the other is considerably more versatile. Going the forklift routine is certainly more expensive, but it also affords more opportunities for return. Although it was many years ago, when we bought our first bobcat, dad hired out to do the dirt work on 1 construction project and paid for the machine. Food for thought!


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## GageFamilyBeekeeping (Mar 10, 2011)

BMAC said:


> .......running pallets is cheaper than BB and T lids.


So I'm still a little confused, are you saying that if you use pallets you don't use a bottom board? How can that work out? I get the telescoping lid since you probably use migratory covers, which I use as well.


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

When you run on migratory pallets you are running 4 colonies per pallet. The bottom board portion is built into the pallet. I can build a pallet for just under 30 bucks per pallet. A few cuts a couple dozen nails and there is a pallet ready to use. Last time I checked you can buy 4 bottom boards for around 28 bucks. That is 2 less than the pallet. I think most new telescoping lids run for about 15 bucks per. Each migratory lid runs about 5-6 bucks per. Looks more economical to me to have them on pallets vice bottom boards.


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

Pallets are a win win win. Plus you can make them using screen bottoms, which has been great for us. The Bobcat w/t forks as noted is awesome. A 170 will work based on what you can afford. Plus as noted, throw a bucket on and make some side change to pay it off. Good idea BMAC!


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Cheapest way would be by hand using a mule and wagon...only cost would be the grass in the winter. With fuel the way it's going I might try this myself.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

You like the screened pallets Tim? I know a few who tried them got frustrated because they kept poking holes in them with pallet forks.


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

Alpha, I'm still crying, that was great, except I would invest in Clydesdale's!

Jim, at first my reckless son did the same thing, so I mod em with runners inboard of the two outside boards, and either side of the center board. Still leaves plenty of open screen for ventilation. Plus when he has to fix em, he's more careful. You know those Western yards get plenty hot! 

Kind regards


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## Justin3 (Jun 10, 2010)

Any one know what a 4 way pallet with (4) two story 10 frame deeps weighs?? Just an estimate people use when loading trailers etc.??


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## BMAC (Jun 23, 2009)

I never weighed a pallet full of bees and honey but its enough weight I dont dare load more than 3 pallets at a shot with my skid steer.


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## rocky1 (Jul 19, 2009)

Totally dependent upon - _name your factor here_ - in most cases. However, we typically ship 408 doubled hives per truckload out of North Dakota, back to their owner in California. Can't queeze much more than 40,000 payload out of most trucks, so about 100 pounds per hive average X 4, or 400 lbs per pallet. 

That is of course holding them until LATE October/EARLY November trying to force them to go broodless for mite treatment, and as a rule trying to burn some feed off of them so they don't have to try and find extra trucks to get them all home. First of August... probably closer to 600 lbs per pallet, without the honey stacked up on them.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

It's not going to cali that usually is the weight problem...it's coming back when they are loaded with honey and pollen they have to pull pallets off. Course not this year...we been feeding cause they came back so light.


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## rocky1 (Jul 19, 2009)

Doubles coming out of North Dakota going to California will as a rule be heavy going back. Honey flow begins to dwindle mid-August and doubles will as a rule start packing the top hivebody down. If they stay until early-November going through the going broodless process to get a clean mite kill, they usually tend to burn up a good deal of that feed. 

This year coming out of California I was surprised anything was alive!


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Am I the only one that has never had a problem getting bees back from Cali without weight problems? We typically send out doubles averaging about 110 lbs. And have yet to get bees back any heavier than that. Rocky 1: Don't let those drivers bs you, any driver that can't net around 46000 to 47000 lbs either shouldn't be hauling bees or should be doing it for a discount. We usually have a pretty good idea what we have weight wise, our saying is load them up and then start negotiating.


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## Ishi (Sep 27, 2005)

Justin3 and John + any one else that wants to look.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/

I think it will work of not do not shoot the messenger.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Justin3 said:


> Any one know what a 4 way pallet with (4) two story 10 frame deeps weighs?? Just an estimate people use when loading trailers etc.??


350 to 400 lbs, depending on how much honey they have in them. If your trucker has the right equipment he can tell whether he is overloaded w/out going across a scale. I load 102 such pallets on my Truckers semi and haven't been overloaded yet. I put one pallet of dbls on the deck and then two pallets of dbls on top of that. I can reach it and it is safer than trying to pick up three at a time. I hate it when the top pallet slips back towards me and flips over on top of my cab.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

A Swinger is a very unusual item in these parts, but one of the guys pollinating blue berries has got one. While loading bees out yesterday we took a little time to watch him. I was very impressed at how well it handled the rough terrain of a bb farm. He did seem to work circles around our old bobbi and he was gone with a flatbed load before we got started good. But "Cheap" would not be a word associated with this swinger.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Tracks or wheels?

My daughterr's Boyfriend operates heavy equipment. While visiting last week we got talking about skidsteer loaders. He prefers the ones w/ tracks. The kind where the track is triangular, higher in the back than in the front. He says they don't tare up the ground like a four wheeled skidsteer does.

Do any beekeepers use this kind of set up?

No flat tires.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

Tires on the swinger and tires on our bobbi. Doubt the swinger can operate in as tight a places as bobbi, but we sure can tear up some earth.... not too much of a worry in the bb fields.


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## acbz (Sep 8, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> tare up the ground like a four wheeled skidsteer does.


Not when there's a 3rd wheel bolted on the back of the bobcat. Your bobcat becomes a big tricycle. No tore up ground. 
Tracks would be great in the Florida sand. But the teeter-totter effect you get with tracks would be a big negative, especially when hauling tippy pallets of tall stacked supers.


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## loggermike (Jul 23, 2000)

Here ya go:
http://youtu.be/cxNf-zs_C5A
I really got a kick out of watching this.


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## Stonefly7 (Nov 3, 2005)

That was great Mike. Thanks for sharing!


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## redbee (Dec 29, 2005)

Loading up inthe middle of the day with bees flying like crazy and then putting on a lumber tarp on top ,what is this?


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## GageFamilyBeekeeping (Mar 10, 2011)

can you pull a 16ft goosneck with a pickup truck? If so, how large? 1Ton?


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

I would like to drop a few pallets of hives in that area right after they leave.

We do see guys load in the middle of the day here.. but they leave a few hives for the workers. One guy says he keeps these straggler hives separate as they make his most honey.... never tried it... so can't vouch far it.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

hpm08161947 said:


> One guy says he keeps these straggler hives separate as they make the most honey
> 
> Yeah I'll bet they do. Here I have been worrying about the other 95% all this time.


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## rocky1 (Jul 19, 2009)

While there are a few places the bobcat does shine, loading bees I'll take the Swinger or Hummer Bee any day. Far more stable, and with load cushion added to the hydraulics on the mast, there is NO comparison. Hummer Bee is actually a little smoother riding than the Swinger in fact. You simply learn not to put bees in spots so tight you can't get into them. Yes we do have yards that present problems, but you learn to work around them. 


On the subject of Black Clydesdales... Most Clydes aren't black, most are bay. Budweiser prefers bay with 4 white socks, odds of selling one to them are about 1 in a thousand.


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## hpm08161947 (May 16, 2009)

jim lyon said:


> hpm08161947 said:
> 
> 
> > Yeah I'll bet they do. Here I have been worrying about the other 95% all this time.
> ...


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

Po folks can find an old tommy lift for a few hundred bucks and jury rig it on the back of a flatbed pretty easy. It is slower than a boom but works.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

GageFamilyBeekeeping;647055
can you pull a 16ft goosneck with a pickup truck? If so said:


> Can, but shouldn't. The smaller trucks are the most overloaded trucks on the road.


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## bees1st (May 2, 2006)

boy we're only talking 100 hives here .I'm 54 ,run over 200 hives , pollinate, and still use the armstrong method . keeps you in shape!


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