I  run 300 colonies and an 1800 tree apple orchard, I'm 46 yo and am 
starting to experience some shoulder muscle problems from the 
repetitive lifting.

I've been doing some research on  hive cranes like the BIllet Easy 
loader. I also searched the archives. 

At $16,000 the Billet Ez loader is a real nice unit but out of my league 
money wise. I have not seen any other apiculture specific cranes 
marketed here in North America. 

While we do move some full hives around,. mostly  I see the crane 
usefull for loading supers, hive bodies, splits, bee supplies, totes of 
syrup and full apple crates. So most of our payload would be under 
200 pounds. 

The articulated boom of the Billet loader is unique and I suspect hard 
to replicate with off the shelf truck cranes mainly desgined for lifting 
metal and other heavy payloads.

Can anybody comment on other equipment I have not located or any 
homemade or converted equipment that they have used or would like 
to sell?

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