Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: FredBorn on June 07, 2005, 11:35:05 pm
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For a couple of years a used 9 frames in the brood and supers.
Year ago I decided that that wasn't such a good idea - mainly because
with 10 frames in the brood you might get more brood/bees and the bees
didn't always draw out the foundation "correctly" so I switched to
10 frames.
When I was extracting today, 10 frames per super, I noticed I didn't
get as much honey because the combs where not drawn out as far.
So now I am thinking I should stay with 10 frames in the brood box.
10 frames when I have to use undrawn foundation in the super but with
drawn foundation go to 9 in the supers.
Comments/suggstions
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That is actually the way I've heard most people do nine frame hives. I've heard some great success storys about it so it would probably be a good move.
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Ten frames to draw wax, 9 frames to store honey. Less equipment, same amount of honey, easier uncapping. If it's manageable, drone comb in the supers can be a plus too. Less wax, easier extracting. With only a few hives it's doable. Not good if your mixing boxes all the time. It really hurts to find you've put a super full of drone comb as your expanded brood nest.
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I plane 1/16" off both sides of the end bars and put 11 frames in the brood nest and I use 10 frames in the supers until it's drawn and then 9 in the supers for drawn comb.
At 1 1/4" spacing (11 frames) I get smaller comb and more brood in the brood nest.
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I run with 10 frames in the brood box.
When I have drawn comb for the supers, I use 9 frames.
when I place foundation in the honey supers, I use 10 frames.