Pierco/plastic warp?

[JWG]

When sorting through brood combs to replace poor ones, I have noticed that I have a number of one-piece Piercos that are unsuitable for brood. I.e., it is pretty obviious that the cells on one side are deeper than the cells on the other, and during the active season I have seen that the queens will sometimes only produce brood on one side. This breaks up the continuity of the brood nest.

I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed this. FWIW I have 10 frames in chamber when drawing and also for regular brooding, w/ end bars tight together.

I guess the foundation part of the frames bowed, or else was not straight when I purchased them. I save these aside as honey storage combs, and keep them out of the brood nests.

Otherwise I found good acceptance for drawing of comb and like the Piercos, if they are straight. They maximize the number of good worker cells available in a brood comb.

Thanks for any comments.

[BarneyG]

Hello i have all plastic pierco frames in all my hives and supers and never had any problems with them and am very happy with the pierco frames Barney

[alpha6]

Pierce is 100% guaranteed so if you notice a flaw in the printing of the comb (depth) send it back for a replacement. And check to see that they will also cover your shipping. I have had good luck with this company...Nick is agood guy to deal with.

[Velbert]

if the cells is deep on one side due to warped foundation then the other side will more than likely have shallow cells the queen some times will no lay in also

Some time they will build one side deeper and the next frame will be shallow usually do this when you first are getting them built

if the side that is to deep is sticking out further past the top bar than the normal frames with brood in them then the bees just built them to deep and the frame next to it the cells will be shallow if you have not already moved them.

I like to put my brood combs on top of the brood chambers of a strong colonies to get them built they will almost all be built from end to end and top to bottom as lone as there is a good flow going then I extract them and us them for brood combs the following year

[ACBEES]

I bought all pierco one piece frames for deeps and supers. Very pleased with them and have had no problems. Major factor in going with Pierco....10 year replacement warranty. Nick's a great guy to work with, if you think your frames are warped, call him.

[JWG]

Regarding Pierco one-piece, with bowed/warped foundation:

I have laid a straightedge across the Pierco frame, on each side, and it is clear that the foundation surface bowed out, 1/4 - 3/8 inches to one side.

In fact, 41 out of the 52 deep Piercos that I purchased and have been using for 7 years are bowed. The "frame" part is straight, it is the foundation surface that is not straight. I have pulled most of them out of the various hives and am attempting to straighten them.

I put them in a greenhouse which gets very warm on sunny days, and weighed the foundation surface down with stones or bricks. I was hoping this would bring them back to true, but they are still not completely straight. I am considering installing a vertical dowel on the bowed out side, central to the frame, up against the foundation surface. If that doesn't work, I will just keep them out of the brood chambers and use them only for extracting.

I contacted Pierco TWICE regarding this problem, and never received any replies, which was also disappointing. Not sure what to make of that.

Too bad, because I thought the bees did a nice job accepting them and it saved the work of building frames and installing foundation.