Beekeeping for disabled people

This paper details what steps have been taken in Slovenia to assist people with disabilities to keep bees.
Its fantastic Beekeeping with disabilities

What do you think about this hive?

https://permies.com/t/172213/Flow

John C Daley wrote:This paper details what steps have been taken in Serbia to assist peole with disablities to keep bees.
Its fantastic Beekeeping with disabilities

The building and hive set up is awesome and would work well in my cold wet climate.   I do want the box lift, frame racks, and cart design they use.  These are fantastic and would make hive inspections and harvesting so much easier for people who don't find lifting heavy objects comfortable. I wish they had more information on the design of these tools.  

Anne Miller wrote:What do you think about this hive?

https://permies.com/t/172213/Flow

While the Flow hive is designed to make harvesting the honey easier it still is a vertical lift design which makes hive inspections and other care difficult or impossible to do while seated.  

I love approach the people in the paper took because it adapted a hive design that works in a cold climate.  This reduces the work load of winterizing the hives that we have to do every year.  
The Flow hive was designed in a warm climate and it has proven to be problematic with the hobby bee keepers I know in my area.  Where I live it is very hard to winter over bees on a commercial or hobby scale.  We loss 1/3 to 2/3 of all the hives state wide every winter here and I don't know anyone who has been successful at keeping their bees alive to the following year in them.  

This paper also addresses the other tools that one would need to do a hive inspection,  hive splitting and other chores a beekeeper would do.  

Thank you, John! I love those Slovenian hives - they really make it an art form!

Thanks Jane.
I will find plans for the tools
I have found some for the hives and have created a separate topic

Here are some variations of hive lifters.
https://warre.biobees.com/lift.htm
Now they are designed for 'warre' hives which have side rails that could be added to any hive if need be.

John.. thank you for the fantastic document from Slovenia on bee keeping for people with a disability.. very informative! Thank you.

Hi guys.. I thought I would take you on my journey for my first bee hive… and yes I’m disabled.
I use a powered wheelchair and I have poor grip in my hands..so this will be interesting.

I already have a massive walled garden with raised vegetable beds, and lots of young fruit trees and bantam chickens (20). (We are fairly self sufficient)

Basically I started with two choices.. a traditional bee hive .. the white ones with stacked boxes.. or a flat long hive.. but I couldn’t find anywhere to buy the later...l so I ended up with a flow hive with the special lifter. .. but I still think a long hive might be easier.. we will see.. but i definitely prefer the flow hive method of harvesting. A hybrid may be on the books after next year.. I will see how I go.

My local bee keeper won’t give me bees until I had a year of learning.. tough love! But worth it. .. so after numerous videos, books, learning about all kinds of diseases etc..I’m awaiting my first nuc in spring.

So I now have the hive.. all painted and looking pretty.. currently off gassing in the shed awaiting the end of winter.. it took me ages to find the right spot in the garden. I had to take into consideration access.. also not being bombarded every time I entered the garden.

As for the bee suit.. chose a xxl suit.. you need more room for your bum when sitting lol. .. so let the adventure begin!!

Update: well the beehive (flowhive) has been installed.. learning about insulation has been interesting.. Tasmania’s weather is unlike mainland Australia. It’s a lot damper and colder.. winter winds are cold!.. but we tend not to go below -2C. ..I’m concerned about mould and condensation.. so I will see how we go.

I also purchased a flow hive lifter.. I have tried it out.. without bees.. works beautifully!

It’s now March.. autumn… Update regarding flow hive and wheelchair use. It’s actually working perfectly. I can go behind the bees and take the honey by turning a tap!!! (only two frames each session) without a suit! Mind you it’s also been extremely hot here. I would actually still recommending wearing a hat with netting and long sleeves clothes… but I don’t bother with gloves.. I always talk to my bees before I go behind and they’re completely unbothered. I always listen to my bees before I go anywhere near them so if they sound annoyed, I walk away.So far I’ve had a ridiculous amount of honey the way I planned my hive was one brood box at the bottom then their honey to help them through winter then the flow hive on top that I pinch. All seems to be going well at the moment so so far I’ve had 12 kg of honey and it tastes absolutely delicious. I’m actually selling mine in 30 g teddy bears which are so cute… it’s raspberry jam in the jars.. yummmm