Western Bee Brood Chamber Special

[datsdajoke]

Hoping for a little input on the quality of western bee supplies equipment. They have a brood chamber special and a honey super special on this month:

http://www.westernbee.com/qs30/produ...03&detail=true

http://www.westernbee.com/qs30/produ...13&detail=true

Just trying to get into bee keeping and was hoping someone had some feedback. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Seems like too good of a deal to pass up, even with shipping.

As an aside does anyone know for certain the cell size for plasticell foundation? I have been looking around and getting conflicting information.

Thanks,
Adam

[johns bees]

I have used there stuff . There is not much diff in the comm. vs budget all the boxes I have bought have gone together well no problems
and the price has been great even with the shipping IMO western is the only place I will buy wooden ware from.

[Steven Ogborn]

As good as Dadants. WB is their wooden ware fabricator.
Rick and Vicki are helpful when you call them.
I've gotten a couple of hive bodies from them, a bunch of frames
and foundation, Ceader top and bottom.
That's where I got all of my bee gear from, such as coveralls, veils,
smokers, etc. All say Dadant on them.

[Broke-T]

I got 5000 frames and 100 tops in today. I buy their budget equipment and its great as far as i'm concerned. I plan to order 500 medium budget boxes later this year.

Johnny

[ByGonzah]

Western Bee stuff is excellent.



I bought nearly all of my frames from Western Bee this year, and I plan to buy all of next year's frames from them as well. I've bought boxes as well, and they are excellent, too. I agree with everyone else - hard to tell the difference between commercial and budget, so buy budget. I'd buy more boxes from them in the future, but the shipping is just brutal. I've taken to buying boxes from hivebodies.com. Good quality boxes, and luckily for me - they're about 30 minutes from my parents' home. I just swing by during a visit and beat the shipping.

[Haraga]

Not only is their wooden products top notch but the service is second to none.

[bhfury]

I agree 100%

[datsdajoke]

Thanks everyone for the advise. Looks like I will be placing an order with them soon.

- Adam

[thebead]

I got 200 budget 6.25 frames, some supers & misc from them last March: of the 200 Budget frames, 1 topbar was bowed, another was twisted a little, and 2 had a small knot all 4 worked just fine...
Not only did they get my order out the door promptly, but my shipping situation dictates using USPS parcel post (which works mighty fine and reliably BTW) which I'm sure was more bother for them.... sure saved me a bundle, not only on the wood but also on the shipping.

[Vance G]

It helps with shipping if you can put together enough of an order to go on a pallet surface freight. Have it shipped to a local freight terminal. The shippers often have ridiculous fees like $100 for delivery to residence and another $100 for using their liftgate. If you pick it up from terminal, you can save a lot of money. Vicky will help you with that.

[Haraga]

Vicky is wonderful. I dont know what her pay scale is but i vote for an increase. She made me want to come back and i will. Same goes for the guy beside the office that does shipping.

[Michael Bush]

Pretty sure PlastiCell is 5.4mm cell size.

[datsdajoke]

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping plasticell was 5.2 or 5.1 so I could use it as an intermediate step for regression. I'm hesitant to go right to the Mann lake 4.9 of series of frames with the large cell nuc I'll be getting in the spring.

[EastSideBuzz]

WesternBee is the bomb. Vicky rocks as stated earlier in the thread. I only order my frames from them (just got 3500) I get the wooden ware localized to me so I can take my truck to pick it up. Typically when I come back from Almonds drop off I pick up wooden-ware since I am empty anyway.

Just so you know there is typically a drop off charge for delivery at your house. So find a business local to you that will take your delivery for you so you don't have to pay the escalated delivery charge. This is not a Westenbee thing but the shipping company. If you don't pay attention to it you could be in for an extra 50 bucks or more depending on what you order. If they have to use their lift gate they charge you extra.

Also I have switched to wired so lots of wiring going on while watching TV this winter.

[mmmooretx]

Thanks for all the replies. I was hoping plasticell was 5.2 or 5.1 so I could use it as an intermediate step for regression. I'm hesitant to go right to the Mann lake 4.9 of series of frames with the large cell nuc I'll be getting in the spring.

Still in my first year. I started with Dadant starter hive which uses plasticell which the bees have drawn with no problem. I have also been introducing, checkerboard, Walter Kelley foundationless deep frames. I have not pulled the foundationless to measure, but I just cut out a 3" comb from my screened inner cover over my top feeder and it measured just shy of 5.5 over 10 cells.

[Roland]

We found Dadant(western) to be adequate, but much prefer Killian. Their quality of wood and manufacture is better.

Crazy Roland

[Utsooner]

Does Killian have a website?

[Roland]

Don't know. If my memory is correct, they are in Hopland Ca. If i can swing it, I might get 300 deeps again this fall.

Crazy Roland

[Vance G]

This Killians must be some punkins because I am very satisfied with Westerns woodware quality. Side note on service. I found out Saturday afternoon that I had a terrible mite problem in some overwintered hives that I thought were fine. Monday morning I called Vicky and told her I needed a bucket of Apiguard. Tuesday when I got home it was waiting for me and today my bees are treated instead of having to wait a week. They are always good to me.