How many frames in your supers?

[jackstraw]

How many frames do you have in your supers?

In my National supers I have always worked with SN1 frames with wide spacers on alternate frames, this setup gives 11 frames per box.
When all frames have been drawn out I put wide spacers on all frames which reduces the number to 9 per box.

I was speaking to a commercial beekeeper last week and he starts off with 9 frames per super, reckoning never to have any problem with the bees drawing the frames out or in filling with burr comb

What do others do?

 

[enrico]

You start with narrow spacers on foundation. Once drawn you can use wide spacers. If you use wide spacers on foundation you will have burr comb everywhere!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Ten frame castellations - no problems with them drawing comb tidily from foundation.
Inadvertently put a super on an association hive once with nine frame castellations and they did not half make a mess.
I find ten frames ideal, not too cumbersome and any wider comb won't fit in a showing case!!

 

[bontbee]

build a wider case! !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

don't tempt me!

 

[thebhoy]

one of the downsides of using fewer frames and having them draw it out is if you decide to run without a QE.......... you end up with a load of drone brood.... http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/icons/icon11.gif , also if you have been using drone comb previously in the honey supers ...

This beekeeping lark really tests our stupidity levels

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thus use excluder - that's what it's there for

 

[irishguy]

I thought there was only one type spacers. I have white plastic spacers on my super frames, are the big or small spacers, this I don't know

 

[jackstraw]

I thought there was only one type spacers. I have white plastic spacers on my super frames, are the big or small spacers, this I don't know

You can tell by how many you can fit in a super.

Narrow would give a gap between foundation sheets of c.35mm (or 1 1/8th inch for the purists) which means you would fit 11 into the box.

Wide gives a gap of c.48mm (1 7/8th inch) and this means 9 frames per box.

Wide is easier to extract, less frames means less handling and reduced costs. But too wide and my belief is that the bees will fill the gap with burr comb - but the guy I spoke too has many, many more colonies than me and certainly seemed to speak with authority when he told me he did not have a problem with burr comb

 

[irishguy]

You can tell by how many you can fit in a super.

Narrow would give a gap between foundation sheets of c.35mm (or 1 1/8th inch for the purists) which means you would fit 11 into the box.

Wide gives a gap of c.48mm (1 7/8th inch) and this means 9 frames per box.

Wide is easier to extract, less frames means less handling and reduced costs. But too wide and my belief is that the bees will fill the gap with burr comb - but the guy I spoke too has many, many more colonies than me and certainly seemed to speak with authority when he told me he did not have a problem with burr comb

So I'm best to buy the larger ones because I have 11 in a super. There's 1 frame with capped honey, is it to late for the larger spacers now

 

[enrico]

So I'm best to buy the larger ones because I have 11 in a super. There's 1 frame with capped honey, is it to late for the larger spacers now

Not really! It doesn't make a lot of difference, the narrower ones create neater frames, the wider ones create more honey with less cappings, stick to the narrow ones in my opinion. The idea with the wide ones is that with foundation you overlap each spacer, ie, the spacer sits flat on the top bar of the frame next to it, as the bees draw out the comb you widen the space so that it fits flat to the side of the spacer next to it, removing several frames at the same time of another box, they now draw the comb out further to create a bee space again, thus the cells are much longer.
Too much faffing, I do use them but only cos I have them!
E

 

[psafloyd]

You start with narrow spacers on foundation. Once drawn you can use wide spacers. If you use wide spacers on foundation you will have burr comb everywhere!
E

Or not use spacers at all, which are a pain in the arse (I hate 'em).

I use 10-space castellations.

 

[Cazza]

I've given up with spacers and just work by eye now once the frames are initially drawn (Hoffmans) to reduce to 9 ( or sometimes even 8.) No problems with burr comb. Saves faffing about.

Cazza

 

[REDWOOD]

12 only because I am running out of supers

 

[bontbee]

I've given up with spacers and just work by eye now once the frames are initially drawn (Hoffmans) to reduce to 9 ( or sometimes even 8.) No problems with burr comb. Saves faffing about.

Cazza

ditto, but sn1s

 

[Nige.Coll]

I found 10 frames lead to a lot of brace comb when using foundation . Once it has been drawn out no problems.

 

[Davelin]

I use all ten frame supers now.

What I try to do is when I increase the number of supers is to alternate frames of foundation with drawn comb. Once you have supers with drawn comb it is relatively easy to do this.

 

[jd101k2000]

An experienced bee keeper, I was chatting to last week, suggested drone foundation in supers. She said that it reduced the amount of wax (by weight) in the supers.

 

[bontbee]

If it's a box of foundation, I find it's fail safe re brace/wild/burr comb if you start with 11 frames (in a national). It's a bit of a pain when you are just starting out, as everything is sold in 10s...

In my experience, it doesn't work if you try to increase the spacings once they have started capping the honey. Then they do fill the gap with brace/wild/burr comb. (Hedging my bets now, after the crown v cover board query....)

But that's probably not the most helpful suggestion for anyone just starting out*.. probably less liable to get the unexpected if you to stick with some form of narrow spacing on foundation, for a while.

RE psafloyd : I use 10-space castellations.
Do you do this with foundation - I tried it once, and got wild comb between so many of the frames. (Sorry, can't see now what hive type you use...?)

That leads me on to a "PS" - is there any way you can "save a draft" of a reply if you need to review something in the thread??? thanks

 

[Hivemaker.]

Ten spaced castellated in all national shallows, with drawn comb or just foundation.