Anyone know the dimensions of this item?

[Poly Hive]

This came up on a FB group and the proud owner bought 100 from Thornes.

Curiously on looking at the 2018 catalogue, they are not there.

Does anyone recognise it?

PH

 

[enrico]

I used to own half a dozen bought from Thornes but they are awful. They don't get filled to the corners, cut comb is far better. They were national super size.
E

 

[MartinL]

I have some, only 3wX1deep. Bought one & made my own copies.

Not sure what went wrong but they really weren't too interested in them. Perhaps I should have filled a super with them all but the girls preferred the foundation (on standard shallow frames) that I had next to them. Still have the squares in the shed somewhere!

Think they came from Masies, as a filler to get free postage? ? ?

 

[gillsmith]

Your friend may well have bought the sections from us (Thornes) but not the frame. We do have hanging section frames which take three sections but they are all shallow size.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Have a few boxes of the shallow hanging section frames, used to use them to produce some sections on the heather, needed strong colonies and a good flow to produce nice fully filled sections, better prospect of this with these frames compared to a full section rack. No longer bother with sections as the demand dried up as the people who really liked them have died off over the years.

 

[MartinL]

. . . . used to use them to produce some sections on the heather, . . . . the demand dried up as the people who really liked them have died off over the years.

Were the subsequent deaths related to diet?????

 

[Poly Hive]

Seems it's a Langstroth deep frame. Got to love an optimist!

PH

 

[Ian123]

sections with starter strips is a bit of a long shot.....bees love a short cut...

 

[Poly Hive]

I agree but he has a "thing" about foundation so he's going to end up with half finished sections with a chunk of wax in the middle. Great marketing right from the off. *shrug*

PH

 

[bpmurray]

The thing about sections is that you need the right hive. They were all the rage in Ireland at one point ("Irish Sections") and the magic ingredient was that they were built in CDB hives. Nowadays, despite how nice these hives look, they're really only popular in Donegal now (hence the Donegal Bees link). So section production is primarily from Donegal these days with, as others have said, cut comb being the alternative for the rest of us.

 

[TooBee...]

The thing about sections is that you need the right hive. They were all the rage in Ireland at one point ("Irish Sections") and the magic ingredient was that they were built in CDB hives....

What's so special about the CDB Hive, I thought it just was basically an extra thick walled, tall / long lid to act as a double walled hive, surely a poly does the same job now?

 

[Beefriendly]

What's so special about the CDB Hive, I thought it just was basically an extra thick walled, tall / long lid to act as a double walled hive, surely a poly does the same job now?

Look at it the other way round...they were close to being the equivalent of a poly hive before poly hives existed. Bit like the original WBC and several other
vintage beehives that where designed to incorporate winter insulation.

 

[Poly Hive]

There is an alternative to the classic square section, and production of them was far from limited to Ireland btw. The option is the round section or "Ross Round" as they were called. I produced hundreds of them on the heather and they sold like the proverbial.

The gentleman who owns the wooden frame which I posted up is intending inserting it in March.

"No comment"

PH

 

[Ian123]

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for comb honey and can easily do an 8oz box on a couple of slices if granary. I don’t think the type or style of hive has any relevance or aids the production of any sort or type of section. Packed bees and a good flow go top of the list. PH you need to suggest to your friend he puts his bees on the rape whilst he puts his sections on

 

[Finno]

Design of CDB hive was ideally suited for wet maritime climate and prevented ingress of water in winter. Traditionally the section crate for this design was only three sections wide and a stack of crates took advantage of the "chimney" affect of rising heat from the centre of the brood box. Riser allowed plenty of space to pack insulation around the section crates.

 

[Hivemaker.]

The gentleman who owns the wooden frame which I posted up is intending inserting it in March.

Into the brood box to get them drawn?

 

[bontbee]

sections with starter strips is a bit of a long shot.....bees love a short cut...

I have long used starter strips for cut comb - the bees love them. I interleave with (commercially produced) foundation and they draw and start to fill the starter strips before they have a sniff at the foundation. It does lead to "imperfect" cut comb as they build drone comb for the lower half, but once customers know about it, they're even more keen to have honeycomb that is entirely produced by the bees!!

Last year I tried sections with strips or foundation - same result, strips were worked first. You do need a packed stock and a good flow - and "dividers" between each frame so that they don't bridge the combs.