I am considering changing from my double brood box system (national) to a single 14 x 12 box by adding an eke to a brood box. I would like to have some foundationless frames but am concerned that the combs will be prone to collapsing due to the extra depth.
They won't collapse if you never inspect, because the frames will never be moved, but if you do plan to inspect you can go foundationless as long as you wire the frames using either wire or fishing line. There's plenty of information on the forum and on various blogs that will explain how to do it.
For that size frame it's probably best to use three lengths of wire horizontally - that's what I use for Jumbo Lang/ Dadant, so it should be fine for the slightly smaller 14x12 frame.
You can't easily wire vertically with split bottom bars although you might be able to work out some zigzag arrangement. If wiring horizontally you can loop one length of wire or fishing line across and down the outside of the side bars then either staple, use drawing pins, or tacks that have been knocked flat to fasten the two ends.
If you use wire you'll have to do something to stop it biting into the frame - either a staple to the inside where it turns, or eyelets in the holes you've drilled. That's one reason why it can be less hassle to use fishing line.
I don't wish to extract the honey from these frames as they would be for cut comb honey. does anyone have any experience of foundationless 14 x 12 hives?
It isn't usual to plan to extract from frames taken from the brood box, although a fair few people do.
It's even less usual to use frames that may have contained brood for cut comb. They won't look pretty once they've contained brood, and cappings are likely to be quite dark and, well, do you really want to expect customers to eat cellulose instead of just pure wax and honey?
If you want to do cut comb you can easily use unwired and foundationless frames, but keep them separated from the area used for raising brood by a queen excluder.
