Hive handle

01 · SOLD ONE AT A TIME

Two per box, one on each side

It is the first question we get, so let us clear it up first: what you buy is one handle, not a pair. Lifting a box level takes two, facing each other on the short sides, so equipping six supers comes to twelve handles. It is worth doing the whole sum before ordering: one shipment costs less than two, and fitting handles to half a hive and waiting for the next order is the kind of job that stays half done for months.

02 · THEY FOLD FLAT

Folded, they do not catch when stacking

A fixed handle on the side of a box seems a good idea until you stack: it sticks out, it hits the box next to it and it forces you to leave a gap between hives on the lorry or on the stand. These fold flat against the wood when not in use and only lift when you take hold. In a tight apiary or on a migratory load, those two centimetres that do not stick out are the difference between boxes sitting against each other and not.

03 · SCREWS AND WOOD THICKNESS

Not included, and the length matters

Each handle has four holes and screws to the wood; the screws are not included because they depend on the thickness of your material. And that is the one real care point in fitting: the screw has to stop short of the wall thickness. One that pokes through inside becomes a permanent snag exactly where the frames go up and down, and a spot where propolis builds up. Measure the thickness of your box, take off a couple of millimetres and that is your length. On thin timber, a short screw with a wide head beats a long one.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Each handle weighs 350 g and carries an anti-corrosion treatment, which is what makes it genuinely useful in an apiary: it takes the weather, the damp and the propolis without rusting, and that is why migratory beekeepers fit them and never touch them again. They work on Langstroth and Layens alike, and not only on the brood box: plenty of people fit them to supers too, which are what get lifted most over a season.