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Small cell for honey supers?

6K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  KQ6AR 
#1 ·
I use all deeps and have all my hives on 4.9 cell . .
Should i go with the same size when it comes to honey supers?
I did get some honey this year on these frames and it seem that they where not as thick as the large cell frames i have used before.
Now this past year was a build up year so all hives where working hard getting ready for there first winter building all the comb for there hives{14}.
 
#3 ·
As far as I'm concerned, the more small cell (brood size) comb I have the better. The reason is that brood sized comb can be used in either the brood chambers or in the supers. Larger cell super frames cannot be used effectively in the brood area if needed. I like to have that flexibility, especially for spring swarm management.

My exclusive honey supers are made up of frames pulled from the brood boxes that have too many drone cells built on foundationless frames. The honey does seem to extract a little easier from larger cells, but for me the advantage of having interchangeable frames outweighs the extra effort in extracting. If I want deeper cells in the supers I'll space out 9 drawn frames in a 10 frame box and they will draw the cells out deeper.
 
#6 ·
As much as I would hate managing deep supers (I would definitely not lift any that had honey in them) I think it's important to have all the same size frames in your operation. In mine they are mediums...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#uniformframesize

"Whatever style (hive) may be adopted, let it by all means be one with movable frames, and have but one sized frame in the apiary."--A.B. Mason, Mysteries of Bee-keeping explained

I feel the same way about cell size. If everything is interchangable your life as a beekeeper is much simpler.
 
#8 ·
You don't really want elongated frames in the broodnest though do you, so once you spread them out in a honey super and if they get elongated, haven't you just turned them into honey frames only, or will the bees cut them back down to size? I think it would just make pushing frames together more difficult if you try rotating them back into brood areas and I thought larger cells were more efficient for honey storage.
 
#10 ·
That's true rkereid for extracted frames (and I use a heat gun), but if you let bees overwinter on them I guess you'd still have to cut them back to size, just seems like an unnecessary step to me and be simpler to use dedicated frames for honey and just cycle out old brood frames every few years, render them down and start fresh.
 
#13 · (Edited)
I have not drawn out any 4.9 foundation, but I have talked to fellows that have. They tell me its much harder to draw out 4.9.
So if that is true, why not struggle with 4.9 in the brood chambers to get it drawn right, and let the bees free to draw larger cell above the nest
Your supers will be separated anyway, and your honey will extract much easier in the long run

Most beekeepers who use 4.9 tell me they only use 4.9 for about 4-5 frames in the brood nest anyway because of the difficulty to draw it out. That said, most natural beehives will not draw out 4.9 out for the entire nest anyway.
So, if you follow your own logic, and want to provide the bees with more of a natural comb size, then in theory you should have a variety of cell sizes throughout the nest. Larger one more typically would of been used for honey storage
 
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