Do any of you use frame racks for inspection?
I’ve seen one stand with an add-on option for a rack.
To the point, I don’t know what I would have done without my “spare” deep box acting as a rack as I dealt with cross/broken comb. I certainly needed the room in the live hive for reaching in.
It was so useful, I may just buy a cheap-o pine deep box (once my “spare” is used in my 2nd hive) as part of my “kit” for inspections.
I usually use the frame rack. I always pull the outside frame first. Holding the frame over the brood box, I check to see the queen is NOT on it, then put that frame on the rack. That gives me room to slide the remainder of the frames to the side as I pull and inspect each frame separately. IF the queen is on that outside frame I carefully replace it and pull the outside frame on the other side and work from that side. I never want my queen outside the hive box if I can avoid it.
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I do exactly the same as @Chipper, using this:
http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Frame-Perch/productinfo/592/
The only time I move frames into a spare box is if I want to service (repair) the box they are currently in. Having said that, I have found that it is close to impossible to have too much spare hive equipment, so I love having extra boxes, covers, bases and frames!
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