Convert UK national brood frame to langstroth in 1 minute

All you need is cable ties, took 1 minute per frame… No glue

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Nicely done Scott, I like a bit of home engineering. So what about Flow Frames, any expert advice on modifying them for a national super?

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Hi Rodderick,

Thank you, not sure about that!

Kind regards,
Scott

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Here is the info on modifying the Flow Frames to fit a National - http://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/uk-national-and-flow-frames/p/106#a1

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Hate to be a bug but learning as we speak. My bees came in a medium frame, Flow Hive does not come in medium I do not like the pine frame and want a cedar. Will a langstroth medium frame fit the flow frame? I will need to add my deep flow box later. Just double checking. I have to say getting bees finally today was like being a new mom. I sure thought I was ready :slight_smile:

Your question is not very clear here. If you are asking whether a Flow frame classic (6 Flow frames) super can sit on top of a Langstroth medium box, the answer is yes. No adaptation needed, they just fit.

If you are asking whether you can put the plastic Flow frames into a medium Langstroth box, the answer is definitely no. The plastic frames are too deep to fit.

Thinking about this again, maybe I have missed something, so… Huh?? :blush: Errm, the Langstroth medium frames will fit in any Langstroth medium box. An 8-Frame Langstroth medium box (with Langstroth medium frames in it) will fit above or below any cedar boxes from Flow. If you need clarification, please ask again.

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I am not very clear and I apologize. Thank you for your reply as it is the correct answer. I do feel pretty dumb and it is helpful to use correct terminology. I will order the med brood box, the bees came in a pretty old, home made, med frame box and pretty well attached to its bottom board. So I am getting a new med box and then will transfer the med bee filled frames into the new box then add the flow super and the deep frame flow brood box in the future per your guidance. I am looking for mentors and the bee keeper meeting is next month so looking to meet some bee friends. For the mean time I will remove the cloth blockade this evening and hope they stay. They seem settled in and I am totally stoked to have my bees finally even if my flow hive is not what they are in. Thank you again Dawn. Then I will put together another frame for a second hive using the old box. I am already growing and havent handled the first interaction with them on my own. :slight_smile:

No need to apologize, if you can post a photo of your concern, it can make answers more accurate and faster. :wink: Otherwise we are trying to work out what you are worried about when we can’t see it. :blush:

Wishing you all the best. :sunny:

Basically I had to change horses in the middle of the stream. I thought I was getting deep frames that were going into to my flow hive deep box. The photo was what I got basically a box with a top and bottom board. I have to pull the bottom board off and so forth to have it fit my new flow hive. Not sure I want that as the foundation to my hive. So, I am waiting to see shipping to Hawaii for a new med cedar box per your idea and I am hoping that the langstroth cedar 8 frame med fits the flow hive. Then, if I have learned I will take the frames out of what you see and put them in the new box. Then later move that med brood box up and put my empty deep framed brood box on the bottom. I imagine at some point I will put the flow hive super on probably I would think prior to the addition of the second brood box. Then I think I would use this clean it up and make sure it is secure and create a second hive. It could take a month to get the new cedar box ready,

Scott.

Thank you for this. I am having EXACTLY this problem at the moment and I am due to have the bees deliver in the next few weeks. I have quite a senior guy brining the bees over and helping me install them in Godalming, Surrey. Im not sure how tech savvy he is so `I have printed your photos out to show him when he arrives. Hopefully we will be a bee to work through it together when he turns up but just wanted you to know that your image has made the task undoubtedly a thousand times easier. So THANK YOU !!!

Back when I had a DE hive (similar dimensions to a National) I built an adapter out of four 1 x 1 (3/4" x 3/4") boards about 2 feet long. The easiest way to describe it is to put two below to cover the gap and two on the the box above to cover the gap there and screw or nail them together where they cross. Then cut off the excess.

WARNING long post!

Scott - I have a similar problem. The only bees I could buy locally are on wired LN frames - 8 Cm shorter in width and .675cm shorter in depth than the Langstroth frames.

One suggestion today from a local was to make new lists to sit in the langstroth box and wire the current frames to those lists and then insert into the hive. I like the cable ties idea, looks easy - what do the bees think of it or don’t they care at all?

My question then is what happens in the 4cm gap on each side - crazy comb and sticking to the inside walls of the box? Should the top list have sides like a normal frame to stop this or would it be ok without?

Another suggestion has been to make an adaptor board between the two current hives (Langstroth new and the hive they came in Nacka LN)…

I would like to winter with two boxes having just found out that this is the most common here. So I’m thinking I’d like to get them into my Langstroth now, and then soon hope to add my second Langstroth (originally for the flow frames, as I won’t be using the flow frames this year) once they’ve grown a little more.

What do you think of my plan?

Thanks for reading :grin:

How did this go? Did the bees build a random comb in the gaps at all? Wonder how it will effect the removal of frames when inspecting.

Hi :wave:
It went fairly well, they did of course build in the gaps- but not so much and just on 3 frames. That said they unfortunately did not make it through Spring so I can’t say how it would have looked like once the flow started up again.

I am starting again soon and this time will do as MB suggested earlier using some pieces of wood to cover gaps between the two different size hive boxes with the Lang on top and wait for them to build out up into the Lang then remove the bottom box and be left with Lang only & correct frames.

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This is what I have done!

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Welcome to the Flow forum! That looks like quite a bit of work, but a very tidy result. The bees will likely fill the gaps with comb, and you have a nice sturdy frame to keep for several years. Thank you for sharing! :blush:

Hi Scott,
I’m trying to research how to convert BS national frames onto langstroth flow brood frames and your picture keeps popping up. Can I ask if you had to adjust where the langstroth side bar fits into the top bar to accommodate the length of the national top bar or did it just pop straight in there? I need to have the process as seamless as possible as my frames will be covered in bees coming out of the nuc so I want to have the langstroth frames the correct size to take the national.
I know that you posted this years ago but there is no information out there about doing this apart from your post.
Thanks so much, any advice would be great!
Merry

Hello Merry,

I’m not sure of your question, you can’t convert normal frames into flow frames. I converted national frames to Langstroth as you can see in the picture above. Please let me know if I have entirely missed you question, sorry.

Scott

Hi,
Did this work ? Did the bees fill the Side gaps with comb?

Hi Scott, how do you go onwards swapping out the converted brood frames to fully Langstroth frames so that in the end there are no more converted frames just the Langstroth ones?