Round sections

[fatshark]

I appreciate that everyone is probably about as torpid as their bees are at the moment ... sorry to disturb you from your slumbers.

I'm interested in trying to prepare some round sections this season. The hardware - super, plastic racks etc - is expensive and I don't want to commit to the wrong type.

Thorne's and Maisemore's appear to sell similar but different versions. There used to be a vendor in Dundee but the wesbite is now defunct.

Can anyone comment on the merits of otherwise (other than the price :( ) of either type, or point me in the direction of something better. I'm only interested in National-compatible equipment.

With many thanks
David

[lindsay s]

Hi Fatshark
Personally I have never used sections but my mentor did use Thorne’s round racks in a few of his Smith hives. I have just spoken to his son about this and he said,
“That his dad never really had much success with them and he needed very strong colonies with nowhere to store honey in order to get the bees to draw comb. Also unless there was a good flow on the bees were reluctant to fill the sections. It was common to get only half a dozen saleable rounds in a whole box.”
His dad thought that they weren’t suitable for our climate and that the bees preferred to work larger areas of comb. It might be a lot different where you are and good luck in aiming for the gold standard of honey in the comb.
Torpid
What a great word to sum up our bees at this time of year and I must admit I looked it up to be sure. I’m off at the moment and was planning to check my hives and add candy but there’s too much snow about. We’ve had a good few weeks of much colder than average weather here. On the plus side tight clusters are less active and use less stores but on the minus side the weaker colonies could suffer isolation starvation. I would normally lift the crownboards for a quick peep on a nice day but that will have wait. It could be a couple of months before we find out if this winter has been to the detriment of our bees, anyone got any thoughts. Sorry for going off on a tangent.

[fatshark]

Thanks Lindsay ... these are for the west coast and I fear that the heather might not be good enough there. Looking at the prices for rounds it would take a couple of years to pay for the equipment if only half a dozen were saleable ... and I'm sure there would be at least half a dozen 'friends and family' in the queue for gifts before I managed to sell any ;)

My bees were busy rearing brood when I last checked. This prolonged cold snap might have slowed them down a bit. We've now got more snow than I've seen for about 6 years. However, next week they're predicting a balmy 9 degrees so the girls might even get out.

I never worry about a hard winter. There's not much I can do about the weather. I know the stores are OK (but still check and add top-ups if I think they're needed) and that the Varroa levels were low at the start of the winter. The harsh weather weeds out the weaker colonies. The original Beast from the East (2018) preceded a very good spring ... ever optimistic, I'm hoping for the same this year :)

[Adam]

Lindsays comments are the same as I have read elsewhere - but I've never tried them myself. I guess thin unwired foundation in the supers and cut comb might be a better solution. Although not as satisfying compared to getting the rounds working well.

[mbc]

I do a few round sections, I've got four or five crates.
They sell very well at market but are a faff to produce, the bees need to be packed and the flow strong, essentially demanding a current year queen to avoid swarming in a colony made up very strong to deliver decent numbers of completed sections. I failed to produce a single decent section last year as the westerly lows rolled in from mid June until the bramble and clover were over. Frustrating after the effort of setting up the colonies, they'd have filled a super or two of drawn comb, but you pays your money and takes your choice, in a reasonable flow a few hundred sections nicely filled brings in a few grand of income.

[fatshark]

Thanks mbc ... I suspect the flow here may not be good enough even in a good year. The combination of the initial outlay and the amount of plastic involved is an additional disincentive.

I'll update this thread in late September when I'm kicking myself for missing the best ever season :(

[Wmfd]

Sorry Fatshark, I hadn’t seen this one. I started with Ross Rounds back in 2015, and even though they have been on hives across the years they are almost untouched.

It may be that I haven’t got the knack with them, they have been on at different times of year and the foundation is well still just foundation!

Mine will be looking for a new home, along with the extras I bought from Circomb in anticipation of all the sections I was going to make .... ;)