Walter Kelly Foundationless frames

[sfisher]

I am thinking about buying some of Kellys foundationless frames, and would like to hear from someone who has them, what their bees think of them?

[FindlayBee]

I bought 50 of these frames last year. Used 10 so far. I placed the frames between drawn frames and the bees did well with them. I plan on using the other 40 later this year when I find the place I apparently hid them from myself.

[SilentSam]

I like them & my bees like them. No problems yet with them and as with any Kelley product, they are nice, heavy duty frames too.

SS

[jdg1938]

In my opinion the side bars are to thin, they want to squeeze together in the hive causing the frame spacing to be to close. But my problem could be that I make my own boxes and they are not a perfect fit like Kelly's would be. I would go with wedge top frames especially if Mann's still has free shipping I bought 120 frames for 108 dollars last month.

[kincade]

Love the kelly frames. Robust, easy to assemble, and the girls seem to love them!

[FindlayBee]

Thanks for starting this thread. Soon after I said I had some but they were misplaced, I found them. If you want, I can post some photos of the frames. They are rough compared to mannlake frames. However, they fit together much tighter and hold themselves together better when assembling. Right now I do it one frame at a time. If I had a jig, it would not matter one bit.

[SteveBee]

We bought 400 of them the beginning of this season and have about 250 of them in hives. The bees seem to like them, and they were easy to assemble.

[gmcharlie]

Downside is they don't extract worth a darn.... don't know how you run, but I extract a lot of deep frames in the fall.

[SilentSam]

Downside is they don't extract worth a darn.... don't know how you run, but I extract a lot of deep frames in the fall.

I wouldn;t think of extracting foundationless frames with out support, YMMV. I have heard of people using fishing line opposed to standard frame wire.

I am curious how well the medium foundationless frames to extracting. 90% of all my honey super are foundationless medium frames.

[bwdenen]

I agree with jdg1938. I bought 50 and had several of the side bars split inserting the top bar. I've never had that hapen with a wedge top bar.

[monrovi]

I was unimpressed with the frames I bought. Maybe I got a bad batch. The end bars did not slip into the top bar. They were to tight and split like said above. I had to go back and remove material so that they would fit. Also had to modify bottom bar. If I would have assembled as they came the overall height would have been 9 1/4"-9 5/16". I just bought frames from dadant. Extremely nice. I will buy from them again.

[FindlayBee]

[sfisher]

Thanks Nick, did you have any trouble with the end bars, like some other people have?

[FindlayBee]

The only issue I really have had is with the bottom bar splintering if I use a 1/4 staple to hold it down. The staple is just not wide enough to span the gap in the bottom bar. The splintering does not happen when I use a 18 gauge 1" brad in the bottom bar.

My frames are mediums and I did not measure the height of the finished frame. Each frame is glued and then held together by 8 brads or 4 staples.

[sfisher]

I got my frames today and just got done putting 50 of them together. I used a staple on the tops and a couple of nails in the bottoms. I had no trouble with any of the frames at all. They went together nice tight, and square. I made the jig that was shown somewhere on here, thanks for that that, and thanks everone else.

[kangaroo]

I am thinking about buying some of Kellys foundationless frames, and would like to hear from someone who has them, what their bees think of them?

I have not use WTK foundationless frame, but have used their 17n, Medium frames in between drawn frames and they have no problem going straight down the frame. I thought about buying some, but 17ns work just fine

[sfisher]

Kangaroo, what do the bees use for a guide to start their combs?

[kangaroo]

I place the empty frames in-between 2 drawn frames and they have no problem drawing it straight.

[sfisher]

So there is no comb guide what so ever?

[Michael Bush]

>So there is no comb guide what so ever?

A drawn brood comb on each side is a very effective comb guide.