plastic frames ?

adding a lot of hives and colonies this year and im trying to get insight with the gear i should invest in. i did buy 5 hive setups last year with only one colony yet alive. so, i ended up with a lot of deeps and mediums which are all equipped with plastic frames. so i have been working the hive ive had this past year and a half with those. meaning i have zero experience with wood. looking into what to buy for the expansion, i have learned a few things between the 2. wood is known to harbor shb easier but is obviously cheaper to replace. plastic is less likely for shb but is less possible to manipulate the comb (cutting queen cells,drawing,and no comb honey). could any of u share ur insight and especially valuable experience with the 2 ? greatly appreciated guys.

I like using wood frames and plastic foundation. I have some of the one piece pierco plastic frames and the grooves along the edges allow the shb's to hide from the bees, wooden frames don't allow that. As for the foundation I use the plastic foundation purely for labor savings.

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Originally Posted by tommysnare

.... wood is known to harbor shb easier but is obviously cheaper to replace.

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?? Did you mean to say plastic? The Mann lake PF frames have crevices that SHB love. Not quite sure why the PF frames (other than the SC factor) seem so popular. I've found them to warp easily and the top bar end to shear off with any sort of rough handling. I agree with pine ridge. If you're in it for the long haul, then go wood frame with plastic foundation.

Go with wood frames and plastic foundation. Wood is sturdier, plastic frames flex, and worse, when separating boxes the plastic frames stick together are are much harder to break apart with a hive tool. Get Wooden frames with grooved top and bottom bars and the foundation snaps right in. Get 2-3 Kelley frame jigs when building frames, have 2 people assemble frames and they will keep a third person busy stapling frames with a staple gun. I use 2 inch staples and never have frame failure.

2" staples in frames? Really? Are they an 18 gauge?

Plastic at 1st seems like and easy way to go - reusuable by removing comb and recoating with beeswax, inexpensive, and not building necessary. If you really like replacing frames with broken ears, are more prone to warping and every couple of year plastic is great. We have purchased a couple hundred over the last 5 years and I think we still have 3 left. Quality wooden frames are cheap, quick to put together with a air stapler or brad gun, if you glue and nail they will last many many years. We like black , beeswax coated plasticell which we brush with a stroke of cappings wax before installation. It gets drawn quickly, is easy to install, easy to see larvae in the cells and last for years. If you are using plasticell it's good to go with the groove top frames vs wedge top.

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Originally Posted by Joel

Plastic at 1st seems like and easy way to go - reusuable by removing comb and recoating with beeswax, inexpensive, and not building necessary. If you really like replacing frames with broken ears, are more prone to warping and every couple of year plastic is great. We have purchased a couple hundred over the last 5 years and I think we still have 3 left. Quality wooden frames are cheap, quick to put together with a air stapler or brad gun, if you glue and nail they will last many many years. We like black , beeswax coated plasticell which we brush with a stroke of cappings wax before installation. It gets drawn quickly, is easy to install, easy to see larvae in the cells and last for years. If you are using plasticell it's good to go with the groove top frames vs wedge top.

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any issues using plasticell versus ritecell? just curious because im going to be placing an order for everything by the end of the month :)

The plastic frames are a pain. The bees always build bur comb on top of the frames which makes it difficult to separate the boxes. And if you only have one or two plastic frames in a box with wood frames they will stick to the upper box when you go to pull it off then they will drop as you get it up about half way.

I have tried a couple different brands of plastic foundation and really haven't noticed much difference.