Lifting a Warre

Time is getting on and the point where I will have to lift my warre hives to add bottom boxes will soon be here. I have two options, I could remove each box in turn and then set down on top of the new box and restack them. One of the main management points about warre hives is that you do not disturb the nest atmosphere, so that method is out! I am left with lifting the whole stack in one go and I am not physically capable of doing this by hand. I have seen some of those hive lifters that other warreors have built and was thinking along these lines at first. Then I thought about my simple lifting system in Sweden. How could I utilize a similar system here? Answer, my tractor lift bucket will be the power source. Position tractor bucket over hive. Screw down a clamp onto front of the bucket. Hang a lifting strop from the clamp and attach strop to hive. I screwed 4 eye bolts to corners of warre boxes. I bought 4 quick release shackles from the hardware store and a washing line. Washing line cord is surprisingly strong. Cut 4 lengths and attached them to the shackles with the knot shown in the photo below. I then used some of the cord to make a circle to tie the other ends of the shackle cords to. I used tape to tuck away all the loose ends. The rope circle will hang from the clamp screwed to the tractor bucket. I can then lift the whole stack slowly with just one finger.