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Author Topic: Plastic Frames?  (Read 4810 times)

Offline RayF

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Plastic Frames?
« on: October 31, 2010, 06:47:57 am »
I got a phone call last Friday week to collect a swarm so went to my supplier to get a box and some frames.They had no timber frames with wax  foundation and said at least two weeks wait. So I bought a dozen all plastic frames to try out.In the new box with the swarm I put in some conventional frames I had and a couple of frames of honey out of another box. I replaced the frames out of the established boxes with plastic ones after giving them a coating of honey and water mix. I just checked them an hour ago and the bees are all over them like a rash :)In fact one of them has some capped honey. So desite being a bit nervous about them they seem OK.Hopefully they will spin OK as well.
The box with the new swarm in it is thriving.There was only a shoebox of bees but they seem to be doing really well. Another box with a swarm I collected a month back is also going really well. It came out of a large loud speaker box and had little honey but lots of brood.The box is now absolutely full of bees so I will put another on top this week. :)Both the new swarms have real nice quiet bee's.They all but rolled over to get thier bellies scratched ;)
Lots of tree's in blossom in Perth right now so looks like a good season. :)
Perth Western Australia

Offline annette

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2010, 02:10:16 pm »
During a honey flow, they will draw out the plastic probably as well as anything. But given the choice, they prefer to draw out their own wax comb.

Offline RayF

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2010, 09:29:11 pm »
During a honey flow, they will draw out the plastic probably as well as anything. But given the choice, they prefer to draw out their own wax comb.
So after they have drawn out comb and filled it are they happy to go back to it after you have taken honey off?
Perth Western Australia

Offline AllenF

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #3 on: October 31, 2010, 11:21:06 pm »
Bees take to the plastic much better when it is wax coated.

Offline VolunteerK9

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2010, 11:07:03 am »

So after they have drawn out comb and filled it are they happy to go back to it after you have taken honey off?

After they have been drawn, they arent any problem. I personally dont like them. If you run 9 frames in a 10 frame super, the end bars have little grooves cut into the sides that are perfect places for SHB to hide. Probably not a factor where you live though.

Offline Romani

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2010, 01:56:04 am »
Could a plastic foundation be attached directly to a top bar without a surrounding frame at all ?
If so would that help to deter SHB ?

Offline Romani

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2010, 10:23:02 pm »
Well I have to answer my own question. After some research it appears that plastic foundation could possibly "Attract SHB"

Results and Discussion from  pnas.org/content/104/20/8374.long
Parasitic Beetle Detects Alarm Pheromone Released at Entrance of Unstressed Honey Bee Colony.GC-MS analysis revealed that 100 EHBs (n = 3) stressed artificially, by confinement in a container, released ≈1,500- to 10,000-fold more alarm pheromone as indicated by release of isopentyl acetate than released at the entrance of the undisturbed honey bee colony (n = 3), estimated to contain 40,000–60,000 bees (12) (50–120 ng/hr released by the artificially stressed 100 worker bees vs. 0.8–6 ng/hr released by the undisturbed honey bee colony). In coupled gas chromatographic-electroantennogram (GC-EAD) analyses, antennae of either sex of the beetle (n = 5 male and 5 female antennae) detected the equivalent of 2 ng of IPA in the volatiles captured at the entrance of the undisturbed honey bee colony (n = 3 honey bee hives) (Fig. 1). In contrast, antennae of guard and forager bees did not detect this level of IPA (Fig. 1), indicating that the SHB detects IPA at a threshold lower than that detected by the honey bee. In addition, antennae of the beetle detected a number of other hive-produced components including: 2-heptanone, styrene (traced to the volatiles released by the plastic foundation of the comb) , heptanal, α- and β-pinene, octanal, γ-terpenine, limonene, methyl benzoate, nonanal, and decanal. Interestingly, these same components, including IPA, and ratios were shown to be highly attractive to beetles in flight tunnel studies (10). Our analysis showed that antennae of the bee detected only five components in volatiles from the hive entrance including heptanal, γ-terpenine, limonene, nonanal, and decanal. This indicates strongly that the heightened sensitivity of the beetles to volatiles released from the hive entrance allows them to key in on bee colonies without bees responding to their attack. Consequently, the beetle has a fitness advantage over the EHB, allowing it to recognize the host readily.


Offline Mardak

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2010, 04:14:46 am »
There is a lot of research(?) out there that needs to be examined in a logical and objective manner. There are many studies into many different aspects of apiary management, pests, parasites, disease, viruses, bacteria and other assorted things. the key ingredient to many of these studies is the soundness of the research and the tools used. Obviously comparisons can be roughly drawn from similar studies out there, however many of the published(?) studies are a prop for organizations to sell or promote some type of product(cost to the beek) not mentioned initially.

Offline Romani

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2010, 07:02:24 am »
Yes you are right . It's hard to know what research is correct . I'm trying to learn but it's hard .
One thing I do know is that SHB can be an issue if you don't keep a watchful eye out for it as they can breed up fast .  Seems to me that it could cause a lot of extra work and lost time and money for professionals. 

Offline Mardak

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Re: Plastic Frames?
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2010, 03:02:47 am »
I look at beekeeper from America(Randy Oliver) writings on the web. He often interprets results from some of these studies into plain speak so us mere mortals can understand what they are on about and how we can use the results. Some the other research out there is simple advertising for companies selling junk.

 

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