Bee-O-Pac

[knpeterson]

What are your thoughts about Bee-O-Pac? Have any of you tried it? Does it work out as easy as it seems? I've been thinking about having one super of regular frames and one super of Bee-O-Pac on each hive. Am I retarded for thinking this?

[knpeterson]

Okay, for some reason nothing comes up when a search is done with Bee-O-Pac. You have to type in beeopac. Weird. I did find mixed reviews. Not sure yet. I would like to get into the comb honey business though.

[HVH]

If you want to fill out BOP's completely, you need a good/great nectar flow and a monster colony. The only way I have obtained consistent results is to run a two queen colony. BOP's are a pain in the rear but customers like them.

[jaglx]

Here is some information I hope will be useful to you:
sent to me by Boris

http://www.beebehavior.com/bee-o-pac.php

[Rebel Rose]

I tried the BeeOPac before and did not like them that well. As stated before, the customers love them!

I now use just the Ross Rounds! I like them, but it takes a good strong colony! Before that, I used to use the old fashioned basswood frames.

Brenda

[BeeAware]

For section honey, I recommend Ross Rounds. Bees fill them better and customers, at least in this area, are very familiar with RR's. Either way, you need strong colonies with a good flow and some specific manipulations of the colony to get really good comb honey. If you can capture and hive a large swarm, they can be really good comb honey producers.

[knpeterson]

Thanks for the info. I will be removing two problems colonies in the next week. Not sure how big they will turn out. One is in a house and the other a dead tree in a cemetary. I also have a bee tree next to one of our hay fields that I will be trapping out. I will be moving the hive back to the field though (I'm planting watermelon, pumpkin, and corn). We get the tree out of the fence line and I still get extra honey and pollination and they get a cozy home and taken care of. I can't wait to get them they are very calm bees. I should end the season with four or more hives. I just have one now. I want to market what customers want. I grow produce for farmers markets and want to sell honey and wax products as well.

[Bud Dingler]

the only folks who think bee o pac or ross rounds is cool is the mfrgs, supply houses and beekeepers.

the bees don't like plastic and its hard to draw out and i find customers will buy 4*4 inch piece of cut comb much over that plastic stuff.

go and buy 5 51/6 shallow box and frames with bottom slotted bar and then some thin surplus foundation to make REAL cut comb honey. we get 8-10$ a slab for that stuff and cant make enough.

[knpeterson]

Really? How many slabs do you get per frame. I have been doing some research on this also. I'm looking pretty hard at that route.

[Bud Dingler]

you get four 4*4 inch pieces that fit into either the clamshell or hard plastic box dadant sells.

using the 5 5/16 shallow frame and super buy the 6 5/8" thin surplus and bend over the excess on the bottom slotted bar and trim some of it off. this works better then a grooved bottom bar


find a boomer hive and put on drawn super on first and fill but not capped yet. then limit the bees to one or two cut comb supers. if you give them drawn comb with also a cut comb super they will take the drawn first. i like to have a super filled underneath first to use as a gauge when its time, plus the super acts like a excluder.

i find more people with ross round equipment for sale then I do beeks selling ross rounds full of honey!

with all of beekeeping stick with the basics, don't put ANYTHING (chems, oils and plastic) into your hive and use real wood and beeswax foundation.

[knpeterson]

I must say I have learned so much from just reading posts on this website. I look for anything I can to learn more. Thanks for the great ideas!

[Paraplegic Racehorse]

Of course, there are other options...

If you really like the BoP system - and it clearly has it's advantages over other comb systems as well as disadvantages - just pop a couple BoP frames right into the center positions of every honey super. The bees will fill them just like any of the other frames and may even give them preference due to their positioning. And you don't have to be so concerned with crowding conditions.

[knpeterson]

Well, I wondered about that too. I thought maybe I could put just a few in each super and not have to have one whole super dedicated to BoP. That is also why I don't want RR b/c you have to get special supers. W/ BoP I can use what I have now.

BTW: Why do you have to let cut comb drain? Why can't you just put in in the box and let a little seep out. Is it just about presention?