I have mentioned this one in the past (Jack always reminds me
).
I used to just use a straight dado as my hand holds, something I no longer do.
I had a special hive with a super-queen, and when I was checking it one day I noticed a few swarm cells on the go. I did not want to lose this queen at any cost so I started hunting for her. I did not find her in the upper box (was I too late, was she already gone?) so I set the upper box on its side on top of the lower box so as not to damage any of the swarm cells hanging down. I went to my truck to get an empty box to set the upper deep on so the cells were safe so I could go through the lower box. When I got back I picked up the upper box and swung it over to the side to set it on the empty deep..........................you guessed it, I had picked up the upper deep upside down (couldn't tell by the hand holds) and sent all the frames flying onto the ground.
I freaked out! I quickly set the upper deep down and as carefully as I could picked up the scattered frames and piles of bees and put them back in, thinking the whole time "I've killed her, I've killed her". After calming down I started to go through the lower deep, hoping beyond all hope that she was down there and safe the whole time!
I got lucky, cause that's exactly where she was!
Moral of the story, never rush, you are not as smart as you think you are, and sometimes you just get outhouse lucky!