Back pain is common among beekeepers for various reasons:-
Bending over open hives
- It is easy to become engrossed in what you are doing and to spend much time bent or leaning over bee hives.
Lifting of beehives
- or fully laden supers is often performed in an awkward fashion, simply due to the size and weight of the object being lifted.
The beekeeper's age
- Has it's part to play, as beekeeping is reducing in the number of participants and the beekeeping population is becoming older with very few recruits. Sr. Catherine in Ireland is attempting to address that problem by working with children. And L RBKA in Leicester are using a specially built bee proof demonstration tent that gives children 'hands on' experience of honey bees
There are simple things that we can do to reduce the problems...
We can raise the height of the hive on a suitable stand, which also has the benefit of providing ventilation and air flow underneath the hive where it can become damp. The raised starting point, that this gives, makes it easier to bring a frame from the box up to face level for examination. This has several benefits:-
- a,
- Your back is vertical and not bent.
- b,
- You can position yourself so that the sun is shining on the comb under examination.
- c,
- By standing upright with the comb at face height it is easier to maintain the comb in a vertical orientation so that nectar does not drip out, or queen larvae are not compromised.
