plastic spacers or castellations ?

[citrus]

Have not used the Castellated Frame Spacers before and always used the plastic spacers

nice to mark frames with different colours etc but other than the #plasticisbad is there any other reason to move to metal spacers ?

what do the majority use ?

 

[SDM]

I use alternate wide plastic spacers (11 frames) for frames of foundation and then they go onto 10 space castellations once drawn.
The advantage of castellations is the wider spacing gives a higher potential yield per box whilst extracting less frames.

 

[citrus]

gotcha .. so less frames and hassle ...

any downsides to using the metal ? (am a poly paynes national user)

(harder to wiggle the frames out ?)

 

[SDM]

The vast majority of my supers are paynes, so no issues there. The castellations hold the frames more securely ( less wiggle) than the plastic spacers but are no more difficult to remove. The contact point with the frame is only the thin metal, so nothing for the bees to propolise.

 

[Beefriendly]

I cheat...I do it all by eye. 11, 10 or 9 depending on circumstances. Bees soon stick frames into place.
I did use castellations but got fed up with tearing rubber gloves on them.

 

[citrus]

I cheat...I do it all by eye. 11, 10 or 9 depending on circumstances. Bees soon stick frames into place.
I did use castellations but got fed up with tearing rubber gloves on them.

dont trust my wobbly hands to maintain the bee space !

 

[Millet]

I cheat...I do it all by eye. 11, 10 or 9 depending on circumstances. Bees soon stick frames into place.
.

Snap..

 

[citrus]

11, 10 or 9 depending on circumstances

just getting my head round this ... so 9 to allow nice fat frames to reduce extraction times and less frames required I guess ?

what other frame number scenarios do you have for the 9 or 10 or 11 decision ?

 

[SDM]

just getting my head round this ... so 9 to allow nice fat frames to reduce extraction times and less frames required I guess ?

what other frame number scenarios do you have for the 9 or 10 or 11 decision ?

8 - 12 in nationals depending on the box manufacturer.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I use exactly the same method as SDM, wide alternate spacers to get it drawn then when they are extracted go in ten frame castellation's, I find nine frame they are drawn out too wide. As a tip when extracting I have a square board with two pieces of inch timber nailed too it, I put super down on this with a bit of force and frames pop up out of the runners saving time.

 

[Poly Hive]

I suspect that most use Hoffman self spacing.

As I myself produce comb honey I use Manleys in the supers.

I would suggest if the castellation appeals to you that you set up a trial and see how it goes. Say a super with Hoffman and one with the castellation. Personally, I hate them as massive time wasters but each to their preferences.

PH

 

[SDM]

How do they waste time ?
I only really touch my super frames when extracting

 

[Karsal]

dont trust my wobbly hands to maintain the bee space !

Your not maintaining a bee space with 9'or 10' castellations. The bees draw the comb out to the depth they require and fill the cells. They maintain the bee space themselves for access to fill the extra deep cells.
So whether you use castellations in your supers or do it by eye makes very little difference as long as you don't over do the spacing.

 

[Poly Hive]

So you never move frames around in the super to increase the storage? Oh well....

PH

 

[SDM]

So you never move frames around in the super to increase the storage? Oh well....

PH

Yes I'll move a sealed frame to the outside but i dont believe it increases storage, it just satisfies our preference for filling one box at a time., but how is swapping less frames a waste of time?

 

[Curly green fingers]

I cheat...I do it all by eye. 11, 10 or 9 depending on circumstances. Bees soon stick frames into place.
I did use castellations but got fed up with tearing rubber gloves on them.

Same here thumbs are wonderful spacers or fingers depending...

 

[deemann1]

I use Hoffman self spacing with 12 frames in supers,
Is it ok to take One out and give a bigger gap ?

 

[Curly green fingers]

So you never move frames around in the super to increase the storage? Oh well....

PH

If the middle frames are full I could see the advantage of moving frames to the out side .

 

[Swarm]

Moving frames around on castellations is just as easy and quick as moving Hoffman frames.

 

[SDM]

Moving frames around on castellations is just as easy and quick as moving Hoffman frames.

Quicker probably, since there'll be less frames to move.