# I need a Hive Dolly



## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I don't have any helpers; much less any that want to move bees in the dark, so I need to plan to be able to move hives from time to time on my own.

Some kind of dolly would be nice. I've read about people who have two wheel dollies, but I haven't seen too many different pictures or varieties.

Also, It would be nice to have a dolly that can lift the hive directly off the hive stand.

I would appreciate recommendations from the hobbyist beekeepers out there. I have good wood working facilities, but no metal working tools or facilities. With the wood working I can modify a dolly to add a wood extension to the foot or some such thing.

I seem to recall seeing one a while back that worked sort of tlike a wheelbarrow. It had one wheel and swung open and closed to go around the hive. Has anyone else seen this?


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

I don't use one, my apiary isn't really setup that way. Michael Bush has an interesting page about his hive cart experiences:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beescarts.htm


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## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

I have a hive dolly....she's about 5'1 118, brunette and an entomologist having graduated with her first masters from ESF Syracuse... <wink> You ain't gettin her, course I am sure you have yer own hive dolly!


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## shawnwri (Jul 31, 2006)

Jeffzhear said:


> first masters from ESF Syracuse...


I thought there must be Stumpies out there keeping bees


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Another kind, besides the ones on my site, are the two wheelers from Walter T. Kelley. basically if you make bottom boards (or drip boards) with a one by two on each end so you can slide the dolly under the hive, they work well. Otherwise the Mann Lake one has the advantage of being able to slide right up to a hive and pick it up without getting under it.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

Jeffzhear, I have a dolly like your as well. I'm real fond of her, but she won't go near the bees. She is petrified.

I need an inanimate hive dolly that doesn't mind riding in the back of the pickup all day and doesn't have to stop at every rest room on the way.

MB, Thanks for the tip on Walter Kelly dolly. I will look there. I only have a few hives now and am going to make my own bottom boards anyway. I don't mind making them to fit the dolly - in fact that is why I'm asking about this now. I want to be sure that the bottom boards I make will work with my dolly.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I looked over the Walter Kelley sie and did not see the dolly MB was referring to. 

Does anybody have any references to it. Pictures, maybe?


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## Chrissy Shaw (Nov 21, 2006)

*Myer's easyloader...whatever happened to?*

That motorized easyloader was a slick machine! JZ used them to load the semi-stacks with them. He made a runner style bottom board that worked perfect with them and the hive body was held in place by four huge wire staples in the BB. That's what happens, you step away for twenty years and it all goes to forklifts and pallets.

If anyone knows the status of those old lifters (a mechanized hand truck with lift features) please tell about it. Better yet, if you have one gathering dust sell it to me or the fellow who started this thread 

Chrissy


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I looked over the Walter Kelley sie and did not see the dolly MB was referring to. 

Walter T. Kelley's web site is not very well indexed...

http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleystore/asp/product.asp?product=154

I like the double wheeled one for rough terrain.


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

>I need an inanimate hive dolly that doesn't mind riding in the back of the pickup all day

You might be able to get away with that down in Florida...


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

*Inanimate dolly*

>I need an inanimate hive dolly that doesn't mind riding in the back of the pickup all day

I've seen some blow-up ones at the corner store.


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## arkansasbee (Dec 22, 2003)

*dollyf*

I have the double-wheeled dolly from Kelly, which I like real well. I had them lengthen the tongue so it would reach all the way across the bottom board from the side.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

I've wanted one for years but my wife gets mad evertime I bring up the subject.

On a more serious note, there is a large operation in the midwest who has a video out, might be the JzBz crew, have motorized dollies they use to load doubles on semis. They have a small motor on the wheels and a forward/reverse clutch on the handle.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

Joel, I'd sure like to see a dolly that could load all the way up to a semi deck.

Do you have links to any pictures or video clips of that?


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

*Jerry*

Jerry showed us that video at the spring meeting a couple of years ago. They run all deeps and for supers too. They were pulling honey in the snow and the dollies were slipping on the ramps going up to the truck. He said that when they tip over with six deeps of honey, it's a real mess.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I'm still looking for more information on a dolly.

MB, Thanks for the link to the Walter Kelley dolly. I wish they had better pictures of the thing on their website though. I want to understand how it works and how it fits on the hive and picks it up. Does anybody have any pictures of hive dollies that people have used over the years? Either the Walter Kelley one or others?

I really like the idea of a modified wheelbarrow kind of thing. Here is a link to the one on Dave Cushman's website. http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/hivebarrow.html 

I was thinking that if I put two wheels on the front it would be pretty stable and made the handles hinged, then I could sidle up behind the hive and strap it on and lift.

Seems I had seen a design like this somewhere, does anyone know of a link to it?


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## Focus on Bees (Mar 6, 2006)

Look on Michael Bush's site. He has a couple of pics of hive dollies that you would be interested in.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>MB, Thanks for the link to the Walter Kelley dolly. I wish they had better pictures of the thing on their website though. I want to understand how it works and how it fits on the hive and picks it up.

It requires a way to get under the hive. Most people build drip boards with a one by on each end so the nose will slide under the drip board (a bottom board with a rim to catch spilled honey and no entrance). It has a nose that makes it most of the way across but won't stick through to catch on another stack behind it.

> Does anybody have any pictures of hive dollies that people have used over the years?

Mann Lake and Brushy Mt have carts. I have one of each that I modified slightly:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beescarts.htm


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## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

*Hand carts*

The Meyer easyloader is the ultimate hand cart. It was built simular to a commericial walk behind mower, instead of a mowing deck, it had 2 forks, or could be changed over to lock onto barrels. It had several speeds forward, and a reverse. Used ones are still out there, and sell for about $1200-1400 in working condition. You could walk the easy loader up to a pallet, pull the handles back and walk away with the pallet, then walk it up onto the trailer/truck push the handles forward and you are loaded. Great machine.


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## Chrissy Shaw (Nov 21, 2006)

*Meyers, not Myers*

The video is probably JZ's alright, a Day in the bee yard, or something like that. You can see the nuc assembly line there too i think. The loader was a dream, darn i want one. I wonder how sunk i would be when chains broke or the like though? JZ did not believe in pallets because they took up too much space on the load so the big trailer was loaded by Meyers and the one tons were loaded by our backs. Jim Paysen knows how to turn profit better than any beekeeper i have ever met. Some think he was too hard to work for due to the labor, but he would work right along side everyone else, no pretense at all. He put many beekeepers in business, some are still keeping bees today.

Chrissy


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