Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
are interchangeable and you can swap the first super with the brood box (a method of
limiting swarming, which we will discuss in detail in Chapter 6). My advice, however, is
for beginners to use ¾ boxes as supers so there is no confusion. There will come a time
when you will decide for yourself which boxes you want to use and where.
Frames
Inside the boxes hang frames. These comparatively cheap items are one of the most
critical pieces of beekeeping equipment you will use. They can be good to work with or
extremely irritating.
Frames may be wooden (currently more usual especially among hobbyists) or plastic.
Wooden frames are literally just that - frames of wood in which a sheet of beeswax
stamped with hexagonal shapes is held. The wax is kept in place with thin wire that
crosses the frames. In the UK it is common to buy sheets of wax with wire already
embedded in them. In most other countries, you have to embed the wires yourself. This
is not difficult (see below). From this sheet of wax, bees will soon make more wax and
will develop the hexagonal shapes into the cells that form their all-purpose furniture.
Plastic frames
Plastic frames are simply sheets of plastic moulded into a frame. The plastic is formed
with the hexagons or cell bases, and many beekeepers dip these frames in molten
wax that forms a thin cover over the plastic hexagons and gives the bees a start when
building their cells. Because they are solid, plastic frames are strong and less easily
damaged when extracting honey. They are also easy to clean and you don't have the
hassle of embedding sheets of wax onto wires and replacing the wires when broken. The
frame itself is less easily damaged when prising it up from the hive. My advice is, if you
think you are going to go commercial, to use plastic frames.
Types of frame
Frames (whether plastic or wood) come in a variety of shapes and sizes and, obviously
you must have ones that fit your hive. When frames hang in the box, there should be an
even distance between them. When the bees draw out the honeycomb from the sheet
of wax you've given them, they will always maintain a distance between one comb and
another, and this distance is known as bee space.
