I have just received my complete Flow hive and I am waiting for my bees! super excited. I just have a question about interframes and I thought you might have a take on it.
The brood box contains 8 langstroth frames, and a beekeeper told me there was way too much room for the frames to move around and that it was better to add an interframe, what do you think? he also told me that the bees were going to building around this empty spaces everywhere, he event said it would be good to add a 9th frame to fill that empty space.
It is something that hold the frame at the proper location.
Red-Hot_Chilipepper, but this is going to make very big empty space on each sides, I have been told bees were going to build propolis structure in this space, making any movement of the frames difficult.
Would you by any chance know the name of that dummy board in French? maybe I can find it here, because getting us from the UK is going to take some time and high shipping price, and for something so cheapâŠ
Personally you would not use Follower board? If so maybe I can start without it thenâŠ
UK we call them Dummy boards also - my 10 frame Poly Lang has 6 Flow frames, 1 Normal Frame and 2 Dummy boards - 1 either end. A second Normal frame was too wide but the 2 Dummy frames fill the space perfectly
Size (L x W x H): 432.00mm x 13.00mm x 215.00mm
Hi, Iâm recommending to local Flow new beekeepers to evenly space the 8 frames. Leave a 3mm space on both sides & a 3mm space between each frame. Thatâs working out really good.
JeffH. I am new to this, but isnât it going to be complicated to replaced all the frame exactly at 3mm from each other when inspecting the hive? even with no bees, doing this takes quite a while.
Valli, Thanks. But I still have no idea how is it called here in France
Yes Sara, you are right, what I called inter frame is a âspacerâ or 'Dummy board"
Hi Emmanuel, I use that spacing all the time because I use 9 frames in a 10 frame hive. You find if you get that spacing right the first time, (donât measure it, just guess it) it will be easy the next time because the bees put a propolis bead around the frame lugs onto the ledge. All you do is just follow the propolis outline on the ledge, thatâs what I do & it works really well for me.
With empty foundationless frames in the brood nest it is very risky to space them apart at all. It is a lot less risky to shave them down and put 9 in an eight frame box. That would be the natural spacing the bees would use. Any more space is asking for trouble. You can get away with a lot of things once the comb is drawn. You can get away with some things with foundation, though excess space is not one of them. With foundation you will typically get a comb away from the face or directly between the foundations if you give them any extra space at all. I HIGHLY recommend you push all the frames tight together in the center until they are drawn, with or without foundation.
Michael_Bush, so basically in the brood box of my âComplete Flow hiveâ, you would suggest adding a 9th frame (real one) instead of adding a dummy one? (I read that Dummy Board had to be added on both sides of the hiveâŠso I am unsure about putting on just on one side).
I doubt that you could fit 2 dummy boards into the gap, it barely takes one frame. I believe that Michael actually shaves a little off every frame in the brood box to get 9 frames in, so that he still has a little space outside the outer frames by the wall of the hive, but I am sure that he will tell you the real truth!
9 frames in a 14" wide 8 frame hive (they wonât fit in a 13 3/4" oneâŠ) is very tight. Iâd shave the frames down to 1 1/4" (they are currently 1 3/8") and put 9 in, but if you donât want to do that I would put eight in and put them in the center. Or put a dummy board on one side. All things being equal Iâd put the dummy on the north side since itâs the coldest and the air space will help with that.
