Uncapping Hoffman frame supers

[JC47]

I am new to Beekeeping (will get my first Bees on Saturday) and I have acquired a number of SN5 Hoffman frames.
Watching videos of frames being uncapped, using a knife this does not seem possible with the Hoffman frames.
Will the members of the Forum please give this novice some guidance before I decide to buy other frames.

 

[Brigsy]

Also a newbie but I think most people use straight frames in the supers for this reason.


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[snelgrove]

I am new to Beekeeping (will get my first Bees on Saturday) and I have acquired a number of SN5 Hoffman frames.
Watching videos of frames being uncapped, using a knife this does not seem possible with the Hoffman frames.
Will the members of the Forum please give this novice some guidance before I decide to buy other frames.

Use manleys in supers and hoffman in brood chamber, ten manleys fit a national super.

 

[Vortex]

You can uncap Hoffman frames with a knife .. it just takes a little more care, but then again 70% of my nice capped Manley's couldn't be uncapped by balancing the knife on both edges of the frame and sliding as it went straight over the cappings.

Anyway if you're not interested in saving the wax .. uncap with a waft from a heat gun....

 

[B+.]

Will the members of the Forum please give this novice some guidance before I decide to buy other frames.

Could you please give a link to which video you've been watching (there is a lot of nonsense on YouTube).
To uncap frames, hold them with the long edge vertically (top and bottom bars) and the side bars horizontally, then just slice the cappings off using the top& bottom bars as a guide for the knife.

 

[Swarm]

Uncapping fork, does the lot.
Fit super with castellations and it won't matter what frames you use (except Manleys) you could even mix those frames with SN1's with no ill effect.

 

[REDWOOD]

99% of my super frames are Hoffman, I start them off 12 at a time in a super and once they are drawn I move them to 10 castelations, never had a problem uncapping although SN 1 frames are slightly easier

 

[Erichalfbee]

Same as Redwood and Swarm........mixed
Start on Hoffman spacing, move to 10 castellations, uncap with a fork

 

[Brigsy]

Interesting.


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[snelgrove]

why start on hoffman to reduce down to 9 frames on castellations, when manley has ten without the added cost of buying castellations plus the extra work of transferring to castellations.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

why start on hoffman to reduce down to 9 frames on castellations, when manley has ten without the added cost of buying castellations plus the extra work of transferring to castellations.

bees will sometimes get very creative if given a box full of foundation on Manley's or ten spaced frames.
Most commercial beeks just run on hoffmans tghroughout now so as not to faff around with spacers.
I must also disagree with this constant banging on about Manleys - they're not that good and can be a PITA when the bees go bonkers with propolis. I use SN1's in all my supers now with ten frame castellations no better or worse than Manleys for extracting or cut comb.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I personally hate Manley frames. The bees stick them down at the side bars which go all the way down making it difficult to take one or two out to have a quick look. I find they are drawn very unevenly unless there is a good flow.
With a narrow spacing the frames are drawn evenly and continue to be done when spaced out more.
Just my take on it

 

[snelgrove]

disagree, super frames should not be removed often for inspecting , plus never had any problems with brace comb on foundation drawing, manley was a bee farmer, manley frames were designed with that in mind. maximum spacing without creating brace comp on foundation

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well, I can't tell whether the super frames are capped without taking the odd one out and I don't like to leave a stack on till treatment time to see what I've got.
manley was a bee farmer, manley frames were designed with that in mind. maximum spacing without creating brace comp on foundation
I don't know his dates but I suspect he never put Buckfast bees into his frames

EDIT: Ah I see Manley and Br Adam were more or less contemporaries but Manley used Italian bees

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

manley frames were designed with that in mind. maximum spacing without creating brace comp on foundation

Obviously the bees haven't read 'Beekeeping in Britain' things have moved on and personally I don't think Manleys are the best tool in the box

 

[Swarm]

I'll agree with JBM and Erichalfbee. Creative indeed, poorly drawn indeed and ten frames stuck together like a breeze block, I'll stick with cheapo SN1's and nasty castellations, some on 10 and some on 9.
There's no faff, hoffman spaced goes to 10 slot the next season.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I use SN1's in all my supers now with ten frame castellations no better or worse than Manleys for extracting or cut comb.

Likewise, all of them, and dislike Manleys, plus they are of no use here anyway.

 

[Poly Hive]

Each to their own but my bees, Black Aberdeenshire with small broods, and the Carnies in turn all loved Manleys and it was very rare to have them messed about.

The highest risk of course is giving whole supers of foundation but that is just what I have been doing this last 7 years, and no, never a problem.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

The highest risk of course is giving whole supers of foundation but that is just what I have been doing this last 7 years, and no, never a problem.

Much the same, no problems with them drawing nice combs from foundation on ten space constellations either, but then it is much the same spacing.

 

[Jimmy]

Likewise, all of them, and dislike Manleys, plus they are of no use here anyway.

Why no use?