> How does this system compare in cost to other?
Compared to Ross Rounds, they are almost as
flagrantly cost-inefficient as buying a Ross
Round super and then throwing it away after
one harvest!
With Ross Rounds, one invests in the plastic
"frames", which last literally forever. I
bought my initial inventory from a retiring
beekeeper. They aren't cheap, but one can
amortize the cost over as many seasons of
production as one wishes. Only some thin
surplus foundation and rings/lids are
"expensed" against each year's crop.
With the Bee-O-Pac, one must expense the
entire cost of a set of Bee-O-Pac frames
against each years crop. This is a serious
cost difference, so serious, that Bee-O-Pac
starts to look like a wanna-be "business
partner" rather than an equipment supplier.
Yes, the initial cost is lower with Bee-O-Pac,
but when you get your first crop, you'll find
that not all the little "Pacs" will be filled,
and you can end up with waste. When you
break apart the things, you must throw away
the unfilled "Pacs". This makes the cost of
Bee-O-Pac even higher, as a percentage of the
filled "Pacs" that can be sold.
With Ross Rounds, all one "wastes" is about
1/4 sheet of thin surplus foundation per
unfilled section. The rings can be reused,
and the plastic covers are only used to
cover finished rounds.
Why is "waste" an issue? Well, comb honey is
a spring thing for most beekeepers. Forget about
trying to get multiple crops of comb honey
from your bees. I've tried.
One is advised
to provision more comb honey supers than one thinks
the bees can fill, as one would hate to have a
strong bloom, and have a limited crop limited by
available supers. So, one makes a small wager
with Ross Rounds, but makes a large wager with
the Bee-O-Pac, as re-use of Bee-O-Pac is
impossible at any but the "entire frame" level.
Another problem with the Bee-O-Pac is that
there is no wax associated with the product,
so the bees have a harder time drawing out
comb. (The Hogg cassette also lacks wax, or
at least did in the initial product offering.)
The problem with this can be clearly illustrated
to anyone who inserts a sheet of the colored
foundation (sold to make those tacky "rolled"
candles) into a frame. The bees really do
"draw out" the wax rather than attaching wax
to the foundation, and the colored wax of the
foundation makes this visible to the beekeeper,
showing the advantage of wax foundation or
waxed plastic foundation.
Another (minor) issue with the Bee-O-Pac is
the flimsy nature of the plastic itself. When
snapped together and placed into a super, there
are gaps between the two halves, and the bees
often spend a great deal of time propolizing
these gaps, some bees will wander into the
gaps, become trapped and die, and so on. The
end result is "messy" as compared to the
Ross Rounds, and with comb honey, one wants
a very very very good-looking result. Some
beekeepers will use scotch tape to close the
gaps, but the bees like to chew on the tape.