Bee o pac

[snoop]

I have a poly langstoth hive and I was thinking of doing some cut comb honey this year , I have been looking at the bee o pac and was wondering was anybody using it or is there another way around this

 

[Rosti]

Never heard of it to be honest, but I did a quick search and this is what I found. My only observation is that the initial outlay seems high, given most people might put a couple of frames in for comb but extract the rest. Also I wonder how durable the pack is given that honey gets used over a period of time?

Bee o Pac Link

 

[RoofTops]

I've got two supers of them which I took up to Dartmoor last year hoping to get some heather honey but all the bees did was shiver in the cold until I took pity on them and brought them back to the warmth down by the sea.

I was advised to wax the base of each tray but Swienty in a recent newsletter they pushed out said this is not necessary. The waxing took ages using a small brush but the bees did draw out quite a bit of comb while they were on Dartmoor - a bit of exercise to keep them warm I suppose.

My plan is to try them again here in the town as soon as the OSR has finished.

They are ruinously expensive but you will get your money back if the bees do their thing, but filling sections is not straightforward. You need a hive stuffed with bees to the point of swarming. Before going to Dartmoor I had a nucleus hive next to each hive and took the nuc hive away the day before the trip to Dartmoor so some of its flying bees would go into the Dartmoor-bound hives.

They are also Dadant Shallow in size (6.25" deep) so will not fit in a normal UK shallow Langstroth box.

 

[Poly Hive]

FWIW.

I have done Ross rounds on the heather and they sold very well but are a fiddel to put together, need a special super, and are costly in parts.

So......... on the KISS principle I used to put some CC inbetween my extracting combs, and on the strong boxes that would be 50% CC.

Buy some CC containers, draw round the outline on a piece of ply, take the out line in by 5mm or so and redraw it, and that is your cutting line. Cut to size, sand, varnish and that is your template for cutting CC.

Tools needed, one knife, one spatula and some newspaper. Oh yes and a very strong colony.... lol

How much more simple can it be?

And how profitable... mine is retailing happily at £9 a pound.

PH