Narrow Grafting Frame

[D. Murrell]

Hi Guys,

For years I've used a standard 1 3/8" frame for a grafting frame. The cell bars were wide and would carry two rows of staggered cells.

But this year, I've done a little experimenting with a narrow grafting frame and bar. The frame is home made and is about 3/4" wide which is just slightly wider than a queen cell with a bee space on each side.

I like the results. Bee density is easier to maintain with the narrower space. And I think the bees have an easier time controlling the environment in the narrower space between the frames. And they can find and tend the cells faster.

This narrow frame consists of a top bar 3/4" x 5/8" x 19". The side bars match the top dimensions and have a dado cut out of each side to hold the cell bars. These frames don't have a bottom bar.

The cell bars are made of the same stock as the top bar and sides. They have a single saw kerf down the middle to accomodate my JZBZ plastic cups.

Do any of you guys use a narrow grafting frame? What is your experience?

You can see my grafting frame and bars at:

www.bwrangler.com/ (http://bwrangler.farvista.net/qmar.htm)bee/qnar.htm (http://bwrangler.madpage.com/bee/qnar.htm)

Regards
Dennis

[ June 05, 2006, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: B Wrangler ]

[Nick Noyes]

That is similar to what I use it seems to work good. We put 3 bars of cells per frame instead of 2 but other than that they are the same.

[Michael Bush]

Interesting. I was contemplating the same thing this last weekend. I just bought some from Brushy Mt for my queen rearing class (in July, free at my place) and was cutting them down from deeps to mediums (of course) and it occured to me that could make a difference in bee density. My Jenter ones are on metal bars on regular frames. The bars are an inch wide, though, so I can't get down to 3/4". Saturday, I cut all the spacers off of the frames so they are now about 1 1/16" or so wide instead of 1 3/8". We'll see if it seems to make a difference.

I've also seen queen cell frames with an ear 1/4" or more on the bottom so you can set it down horizontally without squishing a lot of bees under the bottom bar. When I redid the grafting frames I did this as well.

[jean-marc]

We also have narrow grafting frames. Ours accomodate 3 bars instead of 2. We also have the saw kerf for the JZBZ queen cups.

Jean-Marc

[Ishi]

Dennis;

The only grafting frames that I have seen in Northern Ca. are ½ inch wide and usually hold 3 bars of cells. The bars are about ½ or 5/8 inch wide. I can send you some pictures if you want since I have no way to post them.