Hobby Beekeeper Seeking Advice on Lifting After Ileostomy

Recent permanent ileostomy May 25th, 2023. I am a hobby beekeeper and am worried about being able to lift honey boxes, which can weigh up to 50 lbs.

Anyone here have any ideas, please?

Hello Kiwi Al.
My first and only thought on this matter would be to offer the opportunity to learn beekeeping to any young person, who will probably be delighted to get involved (there is one in your profile picture).
My brother-in-law has introduced and involved his children and grandchildren into beekeeping and they seem to love it. Recently, he has spent many weeks in hospital and they have reassured him that they can carry on looking after the bees while he is poorly. Indeed, it seems to be a focus of their conversations when visiting.  

Best wishes
Bill

No, I'm not. Your surgery is very recent. Lifting that weight this year wouldn't be good for you, but next year it won't be a problem. There's nothing to stop any of lifting any amount of weight. Just do core exercises to keep up your core strength.

Make a strap out of wide leather or wide webbing with clips on the end that fit onto hooks you screw on the sides of the hive, then use your back and neck muscles to assist in the lifting. Regards, Iggie

A good belt, some more time healing and in the near future you won't have an issue. Couldn't you just make the boxes a single box on a stand so there's no real lifting and not have them stacked on top of each other? Might break the hive up a little but I'd think the bees would adjust accordingly.

Invest in a good ostomy hernia belt and wait about 6 months before lifting anything too heavy. I'd really just ask your doctor because people with ostomies can do almost anything 🥰

I wrote one reply, and now I can't find it--I apologize if I'm duplicating. I've been a beekeeper for nearly twenty years until this past winter when I lost all my colonies for the first time. I was small-time, never harvesting more than 300-500 lbs. (but always at least that!). In June, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and my doctor just recommended a radical cystectomy, so I have the same thought as you. I'll probably retire from beekeeping for multiple reasons, anyway. But your question reminded me of my original mentor, a true master beekeeper, who converted all his colonies to nucs when he turned about 75 and moved all his bees, I believe, from satellite beeyards to his home--because, as you know, nucs require constant attention. He managed to harvest hundreds of pounds this way, and I doubt the supers on his five-frame nucs ever exceeded thirty pounds. Meanwhile, with all those nucs, he did a brisk business selling bees and queens in addition to honey. His nucs always overwintered well here in Missouri. I do wonder, though, if it's possible through steady physical therapy and strengthening to raise the lifting limit for those who have stomas to something greater than 40 lbs.

I agree, don't try to pick up 50 lbs. yet.

However, you might be able to in the future. I've been an ostomate for 59 years. From my 20's to my 50's, I was able to pick up heavy sacks of concrete mix and gardening items. Can't do it anymore, but I'm almost 70.

Good luck. Marilyn

I just heard (this morning) and not at all appropriate to your question … the yellow-legged hornet was just noticed in Savannah, Georgia. Damn!

I'm a plumber with an ileostomy and yes, wait at least 6 weeks, even longer if you can. You don't want to have a hernia!

Nu-Hope makes an 8” wide hernia belt that is a great help, but is not a guarantee! In fact, an ostomy is a hernia in definition. Proper healing, muscle strength, technique, and a hernia belt are best practices but still no guarantee.

With all that said, can I ask about beekeeping? My daughter is getting into gardening and going to be starting a small farm and was thinking about beekeeping. How many hours a day and a week does beekeeping take?