Frame spacers

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Back to plastic spacers...
I can see I have three different width spacers
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So, I can have 8, 9, 10 or 11 frames depending on which spacers used end to end or overlapping.
From what I read here I will use the 37 for brood. Start the supers on 37 then change to 47 or 52 later to deepen the comb.
Some configurations will need a dummy due to the end gaps I guess.
Lots of flexibility but the trick is knowing what to use where and when.
K 🤔
 
YES... even new beekeepers over here find it hard to get their head around our frame types and sizes ... once you have worked it out and know what you are going to use .. it's OK.
I found the list and dimensions of frames in the Thornes catalogue very handy in my early days
 
I'm a castellations user in my supers. However, when i got my first colony they were on brood frames with plastic spacers. I was put off using them in supers because they were so hard to get off once they'd been on a while and well and truly propolised into place. Of course frames in the supers wouldn't have such a problem with propolis, but I still find them too awkward to easily switch out.
 
YES... even new beekeepers over here find it hard to get their head around our frame types and sizes ... once you have worked it out and know what you are going to use .. it's OK.
I remember dipping into a beekeeping book before I went on my first courses - it may as well have been written in Chinese with all the terminology & acronyms!
 
I remember dipping into a beekeeping book before I went on my first courses - it may as well have been written in Chinese with all the terminology & acronyms!
How do you guys remove frames as in how do you use the hive tool?
 
How do you guys remove frames as in how do you use the hive tool?
I use a J tool and first use it sideways like a can opener to break the propolis seal between lugs & frame runners and then gently lever out the frames with J end.
 
How do you guys remove frames as in how do you use the hive tool?
I have dummy boards at the end of the brood box and runners in the brood box - the dummy board usually comes out very easily and then the next few frames are levered horizontally to create space where the brood is likely to start and then using the J tool lift and lever the next frame I want to inspect out. And so on .. the supers with castellations - just use the j tool or one of my other hive tools to lever against the adjacent frame on each lug and lift them out.
 
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I have dummy boards at the end of the brood box and runners in the brood box - the dummy board usually comes out very easily and then the next few frames are levered horizontally to create space where the brood is likely to start and then using the J tool lift and lever the next frame I want to inspect out. And so on .. the supers with castellations - justy use the j tool or one of my other hive tools to lever against the adjacent frame on each lug and lift them out.

Same here.

James
 
I use a standard hive tool remove dboard under the lugs then put hive tool either end of the frame and twist my wrist to the left which breaks the seal you can then get under the lugs with your fingers I also use runners which are easy enough to slide frames over.
 
Took on a hive with plastic spacers. I use all Hoffman frames. Awkward to run the two together.
Thorne have stopped selling Hoffman convertor clips so I looked around the workshop and discovered these push pins, if pushed right in, give something close to the right spacing and can be mixed with Hoffman frames.

View attachment 39302
C Wynne Jones still sell the hoffman converter clips. They were selling them yesterday at the WBKA show for £3.50 a bag but they are £8.50 /100 on their website. I just tack a piece of rounded wooden beading on each side and that seems to work. I like the idea of the uphostery tacks. Much less fiddly. I might give that a go. Presumably 1 on each side of every frame where the hoffman bars would be?
 
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