Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: jfreeman1944 on February 12, 2008, 05:08:21 pm

Title: Bee Space Above Frames
Post by: jfreeman1944 on February 12, 2008, 05:08:21 pm

Having noticed a lot of burr comb between hive bodies, I started checking the 'bee space'. I have read that bee space is 1/4" to 3/8". Standard hive bodies are 9 5/8" and standard frames are 9 1/8". That leaves 1/2" space between the frames of 2 hive bodies. Surely I'm missing something - bee suppliers know more than I do about bee space. Can someone explain this for me?

Thanks,
Jerry

Title: Re: Bee Space Above Frames
Post by: BenC on February 13, 2008, 12:07:58 am

Have you noticed that the beespace, according to the catalogs, would differ whether you are using a deep, med, or short?  I can't answer your question, all I can say is that I get nearly all of my frames from Dadant or Brushy Mt. (I think they are the same)  and many deep frames will not measure 9-1/8 after assembly.  more like 9-3/16 to 9-1/4.

Title: Re: Bee Space Above Frames
Post by: jfreeman1944 on February 13, 2008, 05:22:16 pm

I haven't thougt about the frames being different sizes. 9 1/4 would reduce the space between frames in 2 hive bodies to 3/8" which would reduce the amout of burr comb. Still, I don't want to trim the hive bodies without knowing more about the situation.