Hi Cindi, Thanks for your kind words.
Hi Wayseer, Not sure how Capillano started but essentially if the company went public, then anybody could buy in. The vested interests would not be in favor of the beekeepers any more. The co-op needs to be owned by beekeepers and stay that way. Best way to handle that I reckon, is no shares for money, only shares for honey.
Re, the transport. The way I see it, Commercial beekeepers already have to transport their honey to market. This is a little bulkier admittedly, but don't forget this saves them the time and most of the expense of extracting. You're right Wayseer, this extracting plant / honey coop business, is no good for the amateur beekeeper. However the system of hive management would still be great for the hobbyist, and they can still take care of their own honey harvesting.
What I am proposing for the honey supers, is a molded solid wax frame (SWF) with foundation in situ and frame dimensions the same as a standard Ideal depth frame. In harvesting, you kiss the entire honeycomb and frame goodbye, it is disposable / recyclable equipment. The entire frame can be fed through a pair of rollers (a mangle) like on the old washing machines. Wax I believe is malleable enough to be squashed yet strong enough at several millimeters to serve the same function as the timber frame. Like the timber frame the SWF will (I hope), prevent bees attaching to the hive body but like the comb in a top bar hive, can be sacrificed and harvested without an extractor. You should get all the essential advantages of the top bar hive, as well as the ability to move frames around at will, transport them and of course incorporate them into a standard langstroth hive.
So for hobbyists, they would have a latex mold and a crock pot to make their frames. You just cut the comb out and squash it to harvest the honey. Or perhaps there will be stainless steel mangles made for sale by beekeeping suppliers if the system takes. I think it could be particularly good for the hobbyist because they get most of the benefits of the top bar system and yet all of the advantages of the Langstroth system.
Re the link to my site, I am trying to reply to a PM from pdmattox who invited me to submit my link, but after submitting, I am returned to the editor page, without confirmation that my message has been sent. Nor is the message in my outbox. Hmmm...
Regards Steve