When I ran warres, the combs were not attached to teh sides. They were perfectly square ..
I thought of Delon frames for Langs.. might try it. Need some more frames soon with all this honey..
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When I ran warres, the combs were not attached to teh sides. They were perfectly square ..
I thought of Delon frames for Langs.. might try it. Need some more frames soon with all this honey..
So - nothing like this, then ?
http://i57.tinypic.com/5xs6d0.jpg
This was sorta what I was expecting to find (eventually), with wire frames or not. But - if the sides stay clean, that would be one helluva bonus. :)
LJ
I think, from my point of view, having the combs fixed to the sides is actually a bit of a bonus because it allows for easier movement of the colonies. Having hit a point where further expansion is being severely curtailed by limitation of funds I'm looking at the potential of using warre type boxes on a slightly larger scale than normally seen in the UK although with a very personal approach to their management. The idea being that as new dadants are built the warre combs can be transferred into the md frames but in the meantime they can be built up and contribute income.
Attachment 2117
It's far from an ideal solution but sometimes we need to look for new ways to achieve the same result.
Totally agree. Have you considered going horizontal as a temporary solution ? Square section horizontal hives (Long Hives, Tanzanian, call 'em what you will ...) are quick and easy to make, as well as being cheap. And they could be dimensioned to fit around your existing Dadant frames.
The real beauty (imho) of such horizontal hives is that they're one-piece boxes, so there's no need to sod about making sure one box fits squarely on top of another without it rocking about.
The perfect material to make these is condemned scaffold boards - if they can be sourced locally - they're usually priced at about £5 to £6 for a 13 foot length.
LJ
I have given a serious amount of thought to horizontal hives, being a long term follower of Wyatt Mangum's articles, and I'm certainly not going to dismiss them as a possibility in the future (for pleasure/interest) but for now I've settled on the warre type box due amongst other reasons to it's relatively small footprint which will aid movement between apiaries.
As it was a nice sunny morning, I took the opportunity to check if my second 'Alpine' Hive is now queen-right, and it is ... :)
4 weeks from emergence to the first capped brood, so this seems to be par for the course around here.
I also took the opportunity to make a closer inspection of the 'pass-through ventilation slots' fitted into the sides of the feeder box, to see if they'd been propolised shut yet - only a couple of token dabs, otherwise clear - so it looks as if the bees appreciate a small amount of upward air movement through the hive. This situation may change of course, as we move towards winter.
LJ