Half Frame Design - Larger dimensions?

[Eric Conceicao]

I figured I would reach out to Warre beekeepers who may have experience with using half-frames (as per Gilles Denis: http://ruche-warre.com/des-cadres-ou-des-barrettes.html). I am considering using this concept in the brood nest of my nationals with larger dimensions (43cm length, 24cm depth. Denis states that he chose this design after observing that colonies only attached combs in the top 1/3 of nests (corresponding to honeycomb portion). Could this concept work without too many attachments in the brood nest of my hives? TY for insight.

[little john]

Well, I have zero experience of using half-frames - but I've been running a couple of Russian 'Alpine' hives (a Warre variant) using Delon wire frames, and have quite a lot of Nationals which I run foundationless very successfully using full depth frames ... so here's my take on this:

What on earth is the point of a half-frame ? If bees only attach to the top half of a side-bar - then by all means let them attach to the top half of a full depth side-bar, with the remainder of that frame still being present as a 'belt and braces' measure - because sometimes they DO make attachments further down the comb. Also - having full-length side-bars and a bottom bar in place then allows support to be given to the comb in the form of nylon fishing line (my preference) strung between the sidebars.

And - if you should ever decide to run foundationless in a 14x12 National box, it then becomes pretty-much mandatory to support such a deep comb in some way, and the only practical method of doing this is by using full-depth frames with suitable cross-pieces to support the comb. I'm currently in the process of making exactly this: 14x12 'framed Top-Bars' - i.e. solid Top Bars with 'H'-shaped frames hanging beneath them, and with bottom bars added.

So - that's my 2p's worth ... 

LJ

[little john]

Bit of an update ...

I eventually decided against using an 'H'-shaped frame, and settled on the tried-and-tested method of stringing several strands of nylon fishing line across the side-bars instead :



But - if you really want to omit the bottom bar, then I guess you could try installing a catenary-shaped wire, thusly :



Many ways of skinning a cat ....

LJ