[nebrbee]

I'm thinking of trying the 1 piece plastic frame with foundation but know nothing about them. In some supply catologs they are cheaper the wooden frames and foundation. Is anyone using them? What are your opinions? Anyone using them in the brood chamber or just in the supers? Any help would be apprecited. Thanks in advance.

 

[Michael B]

I bought (2) 5 frames nucs a couple weeks ago. Each nuc and 1 white plastic frame. The frames is very weak and bends very easily. Also, for some reason the bees burr comb the heck out of it.

After that I would not use plastic my my hives.

 

[jpm]

I bought three Italian packages this year and put them in mediums with different frame types -- already drawn frames which I extracted last year; new white plastic frames from Mann Lake, and a mix of foundationless and pre-drawn frames. I found that the package on white plastic drew out quickly (more quickly than divides on Rite-Cell did) and performed nearly as well as the package on pre-drawn frames. They did build an unusual amount of burr comb on the white plastic frames. The frames seem like they may be susceptible to damage from excessive grasping pressure with a frame grip, but otherwise seem to be at least as durable as wooden frames with Rite-Cell. As Michael Bush observed, the white plastic frames have a smaller cell size than Rite-Cell. I do not know if it is small enough to reduce mite populations (I'm hoping to do sugar rolls on the pre-built and white plastic colonies this fall to find out). They are also very slightly narrower than wooden frames from Mann Lake, which leaves a little bit more slack space in a 10-frame box; I find this to be convenient. I used to try to keep the frames evenly spaced, but have recently switched to packing them all toward the bees' favorite side of the box. This makes it easier to find slack when pulling frames, and they don't seem to want to build brace comb in the larger gap.

 

[hillhousehoney]

Afternoon:
I personally have good success with the Mann Lake plastic. Just ordered another 200 frames. They take to them quickly, and they hold up well. I have either the Pf-120's or HSC as my broodnest. I am going to try working in some foundationless soon to see how that goes. The Pf-120's are 4.95 which is pushing the top tolerence for varroa control, but is acceptable.

Disclaimer: Just my results, your results may vary.

 

[bejay]

Ive been using the black ones from mann lake and like them, they do flex alot compared to a wood frame but i havent broke any yet, they have there pros and cons i guess but I am planning on switching to all plastic, only real problem i see with them is bees prefer to draw out wax foundation over plastic although the difference is not really noticable in a strong flow they draw out both equally well, but when you have little flow or your feeding then you can notice a difference on how well they are accepted.

 

[trainwrecker]

we purchased 2 nucs , each had a black plastic frame in them. these frames had many holes, crevices that the shb's loved. when you opened each hive the beetles were severely worse on these frames. we have since removed and put on traps.

 

[oldenglish]

Here in WA small hive beetle is not a problem, I am using the pierco plastic frames and the bees do ok on them for the most part. They do better if you add more wax to them and occasionally the bees like to draw comb from the surface of one frame to the surface of the next frame, and they like to burr comb the tops of the frames but other than that they work well for me.

 

[skflyfish]

My bees did not like the thin beeswax coating and didn't draw them out well. Rarely would they draw the entire frame out and many times it was in streaks. When I coat them with additional beeswax, at the rate of 1 pound per ten <strike>PF120s</strike>PF100s, they liked them quite well and do a good job of drawing them out. I have them intermixed with wood frames, but the hives that have all <strike>PF120s</strike>PF100s seem much more tiddy. I also have them intermixed with wooden foundation-less frames and they drew out the <strike>PF120s</strike>PF100s first before building comb in the open frames.

Overall, when additionally coated, I like them and will continue to use them.

Jay

 

[Michael Bush]

The only ones I've used and liked are the PF100 series (PF120s being mediums and PF100s being deeps) from Mann Lake. I love them. They are well accepted. I don't have to assemble them. They are cheaper than frames and foundation. AND they are 4.95mm cell size.

 

[nebrbee]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'll go aheadwith the plan to try them. Thanks again.