Frames

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Two wired frames
Frame with soldered-in middle wall

A frames , also Wabenrähmchen called, is a frame made of wood , to the beekeeper with a central wall provided in a hive mounts. Honey bees build the frame into a honeycomb with the help of beeswax . Frames enable mobile honeycomb construction within the hive, as the beekeeper can change the position of the honeycomb in the hive at will.

description

A frame consists of four strips of wood that are joined together to form one part by means of nails or staples with staples . The strips are 8 to 19 mm thick and 20 to 25 mm wide. Today, the upper beam is about 1 cm longer on both sides of most frames and thus protrudes over (ears) on both sides, so that the frame can be hooked into the hives. In frames to individual rear treating hives there is no overhang, because the frames are inserted into the floor and stand on honeycomb carriers. In order to maintain the honeycomb spacing, spacers (plastic rollers) are attached to the frame or milled into the side wood.

In addition to a large number of frame sizes, there is also a large variety of designs with the same frame size. Some characteristic designs are listed below and outlined with regard to properties and benefits.

Frame material Features / benefits
White pine stable with minimal weight
beech bends less, heavier
Hoffmann version The side part is widened by 7.5 mm in the upper half and thus creates a target spacing (beespace) of 35 mm honeycomb spacing.
long ears make it easier to lift the frame out of the honeycomb structure
thick upper straps make the frame long-term stable; prevents "wild construction" upwards (between the frames)
Connection types Features / benefits
mortised stable because it is form-fitting
nailed technically simple, cheap, splits the wood very easily
stapled technically simple, fast, does not split the wood
screwed 3.5 × 25 mm, technically complex, very stable, good for lifting out cemented honeycombs
dowelled Glued 3 mm bamboo or shashlik skewers, technically complex, very stable
glued waterproof wood glue, technically less complex, stable
Wire, material and wiring Features / benefits
Steel wire sensitive to organic acids that lead to the formation of black oxide; the electrical resistance is around 5 ohms per frame
Stainless steel wire insensitive to organic acids; the electrical resistance is around 10 ohms per frame
Brass eyelets prevent the wire from cutting into the wood; sensitive to organic acids, which lead to the formation of black oxide
horizontal wiring Side parts bend; The upper beam remains straight and is easy to clean with the stick chisel.
vertical wiring Side panels stay straight; The upper beam bends easily and can only be cleaned carefully with the chisel, as the wire lies on the upper beam.

The prepared frames are placed in the colony by the beekeeper. Honeycombs can then either be completely made by the bees themselves (free wild cultivation), which is usually only practiced with drone honeycombs . Frames with soldered central walls are mainly used. Honeycomb frames are only added to the colony during the foraging season and are best removed in spring when the fruit and rape are in bloom.

Manufacture and application

Creation of a honeycomb: From the wired frame to the frame with a soldered-in middle wall to the honeycomb
Do-it-yourself transformer for soldering in the middle walls
Frame punch

In order to fix a middle wall in the frame, the beekeeper stretches a thin (stainless) steel wire inside the frame. As a rule, four-fold clamping is used, with horizontal and vertical wiring being common. The beekeeper places a middle wall in the frame with the wire taut . With the help of a transformer, he "soldered" it into the beeswax of the central wall. The wire is heated by the electric current and the wax of the central wall becomes soft for a short time. After the wax has cooled down, the central wall is fixed by the melted wire.

Frames can be purchased ready-assembled and covered with wire in beekeeping supplies. The complete self-construction of frames is possible with the appropriate tools, the only material required is wood, wire and fastening material such as nails. If you are building it yourself, cheap, rough wood is an advantage because the bees can hold onto it better. The preparation of the frame is a so-called winter work of the beekeeper, because he is heavily involved in the preparation of the bee colonies during the foraging season in spring and summer. Frames can be reused several times. If honeycombs have been in the brood chamber for several years , they change color from yellow to brown to black as a result of the use of bees. The beekeeper cuts out the honeycombs and uses a solar wax melter to extract raw wax from them. The frames can be used again after scraping off any wax residue and washing.

Depending on the construction, about 8 to 12 frames fit into post-treatment hives as well as into the magazine hives commonly used today. The beekeeper uses frames with central walls during the fore season from spring to summer, as the bees only convert the frames into honeycombs during this time.

history

The invention of the frame in the middle of the 19th century and the associated introduction of mobile honeycomb construction revolutionized beekeeping. August Freiherr von Berlepsch is considered to be the inventor of the movable honeycomb frame in 1853 . In 1858 this was completed with the introduction of the beeswax center wall by Johannes Mehring . The connection between the frame and the central wall means that the bees need less energy to build new honeycombs. Only the mobile construction enables the removal of full honeycombs from the bee colony without causing damage to the existing honeycomb structure. Empty honeycombs or frames can be used immediately as replacements. Mobile construction was first introduced with the then common type of rear treatment hive, which the beekeeper processes from behind. In connection with the magazine hives that appeared in the 20th century, frames increased the honey harvest due to the mobility of the honeycombs. If there is a large amount of honey, a magazine frame with empty honeycombs or frames is placed on the beehive.

Frame dimensions

Langstroth frames
Wired frame of the size "German Normal"

A large number of different frame sizes are used in German-speaking countries. This makes honeycomb and hive exchange between individual beekeepers more difficult, as does orientation for newcomers. Sometimes different names are used for the same dimension - for example "Deutsch Normal", "DNM" for short, (Germany) for "Einheits Maß", "EHM" for short, (Austria), but sometimes the same name for different dimensions - as with Dadant.

Criteria for choosing a certain size include:

  • the spread in the surrounding area
  • the availability of suitable accessories (frames, barriers , honey extractors) in specialist beekeeping stores
  • Operational considerations, for example, the weight of a honey-filled frame and thus the lifting work of the beekeeper increases considerably with increasing frame dimensions
  • Considerations that arise from the nature of the bees - for example the question of whether a colony with a good queen with a box will find enough space to create a brood nest with sufficient supplies or whether the brood space has to be divided into two or more boxes due to lack of space
  • financial considerations, subsidies are often only awarded if certain frame dimensions are used

Common frame dimensions

Internationally, the following are used almost exclusively:

  • Langstroth size (Langstroth): internationally most popular size by Lorenzo Langstroth
  • Dadant sheet: developed by Charles Dadant , often in Europe, except Germany

The following special sizes are common in the German-speaking area:

  • Modified Dadant (often simply “Dadant US”): frames of the same length as Langstroth prey, common in commercial and organic beekeeping in Great Britain and Germany
  • German-Normal-Maß (DNM) or "Einheits Maß" (EHM) (term in Austria): mainly in central and northern Germany
  • Standard size (Bavarian), also "Hofmanns Einheitsrähmchen"
  • Kuntzsch : scattered in the German-speaking area, sometimes also as "Kuntzsch hoch"
  • Austrian wide honeycomb or "wide honeycomb" (ÖBW or BW): especially in Eastern Austria
  • Swiss measure (Swiss box): often used in central and eastern Switzerland, based on the old "Prussian breech loader" rear treatment hive system
  • Zandermaß (Zander): after Enoch Zander

Some systems have different heights for brood chamber and honey chamber frames as standard (Dadant) or optionally (pikeperch with flat frame); the latter are then only about half as high.

Table frame dimensions

Schematic sketch for taking measurements

The table frame dimensions lists a variety of former and current information on the external dimensions (A and B) or the internal dimensions (C and D) of the top strips without "ears" (A and C; corresponds to the bottom strip) and the side strips (B and D) on. This makes comparisons much easier if the number of honeycombs per frame or boot is known.

It should be noted that the inside dimensions given in the frame dimensions table can deviate from the middle wall sizes, because the middle walls are sometimes inserted into a groove in the top bar and, on the other hand, because the middle walls often have a "slip-through distance" to the bottom bar in the order of magnitude of 10 take into account up to 15 mm.

Explanation : A and B are the outer dimensions, C and D are the inner dimensions of the top bar without "ears" or the side bar.

Name / booty A in mm B in mm A × B in cm² C in mm D in mm C x D in cm² Ear length in mm
Alberti leaf stick 420 270 1134
Allgäu booty system Swiss measure, whole 360 284 1022
Allgäu booty system Swiss measure, half 175 284 497
Loot of worksheets from the beekeepers' group 223 370 825
Badisch, quite [club size] 240 420 1008 220 405 891
Badisch, half 240 210 504 220 195 429
Berlepsch
Berchtesgaden measure 235 370 870
Brown measure
Bremen measure 234 314 735 345 195 673
Bürki box 270 230 621
Dadant [US, modified], brood chamber 448 285 1277 428 256 1096 17th
Dadant Hoch [US, modified], brood chamber 285 448 1277 256 428 1096 17th
Dadant [US, modified], honey room 448 141 632 428 122 522 17th
Dadant leaf [European], brood chamber 435 300 1305 410 265 1087
Dadant leaf [European], honey space 435 159 692 410 130 533
Dadant [American] 460 270 1242
Dahte, honeycomb 347 225 781
Dante, honeycomb 223 360 803
Danish trough booty 310 260 806
German normal [unit size] 370 223 825 350 200 700 12
German normal, one and a half 370 338 1251 350 315 1103 12
German normal, flat 370 159 588 350 135 473 12
German normal, half 370 110 407 350 100 350 12
Alsace-Lorraine measure 240 320 768
French congress booty 362 362 1310
French central association measure 320 430 1376
Freudenstein 338 200 676 315 180 567
Barley, broad 410 260 1066 400 250 1000
Barley, high 260 410 1066 250 400 1000 10
Helvetia box, brood chamber 360 300 1080 344 270 929
Helvetia box, honey room 360 150 540
Hoffmann, small [Bavarian] 370 260 962 350 235 823
Hoffmann, great 410 260 1066 400 250 1000
Holstein measure 260 300 780
Italian club size 426 261 1112
Yugoslav special size 400 300 1200
Kuntzsch, broad 330 250 825 310 230 713
Kuntzsch, up 250 335 838 230 310 713
Langstroth, jumbo [Dadant] 448 285 1277 428 260 1113 17th
Langstroth, quite 448 232 1039 428 203 869 17th
Langstroth, flat, 1/2 448 137 614 428 108 462 17th
Langstroth, flat, 2/3 448 159 712 428 130 556 17th
Langstroth, flat, 3/4 448 185 829 428 156 668 17th
Layens 329 405 1332 310 370 1147
Lüfteneggermaß 420 220 924
Master stick from Schulz 350 240 840
Mellifera one-volume hive 285 458 1305 261 426 1112
Mini Plus Loot ( 1/2 Dadant Leaf, Honey Room ) 217 159 345 197 139 274 17th
Austrian wide honeycomb 426 255 1086 420 220 924
Rhenish ideal booty (tailor) 250 420 1050
Simplex / Spaarkast, breeding room (Dutch) 360 218 785 340 198 673
Simplex / Spaarkast, honey room (Dutch) 360 140 504 340 120 408
Cistern, brood chamber 385 335 1290 370 310 1147
Cistern, honey room 385 170 655 370 150 555
Swabian loot (Alsace) 272 362 985
Swiss measure, old 272 277 753
Swiss measure, new 340 260 884
Swiss caste 286 360 1030 270 343 926 6th
Swiss stick, brood chamber 288 361 1040
Swiss stick, honey room 288 177 510
Schleswig Holstein hiking prey 310 260 806
Schwerin measure 472 171 807 420 145 609
Bouquet of Dadant and Alberti frames 435 300 1305
Traublinger trough hive 390 240 936 370 220 814
Tatran (Czech, Slovak) 420 275 1155
Boczonadi booty, whole (Hungarian) 420 360 1512 400 335 20th
Boczonadi booty, half (Hungarian) 420 180 756 400 155 20th
Hunor loot (Hungarian) 420 270 1134 400 245 20th
Warré 283 200 566 266 182 484.12 18th
Viennese club stand 250 420 1050
Wielkopolski (Polish) 360 260 936
Württembergisch, new 272 277 753 250 250 625
Württembergisch, old 272 220 598 250 200 500
1.5 pikeperch 420 330 1386 400 300 1200
4/3 pikeperch, brood chamber 420 300 1260 400 280 1120
4/3 pikeperch, honey room 420 150 630 400 130 520
Pikeperch 420 220 924 400 191 764 28.5
Zander, half 420 110 462 400 90 360
ZaDant 420 285 1197 400 265 1060
Zander, flat 420 159 668 400 130 520
Zander, jumbo 420 326 1369 400 296 1184

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heinz Neumann: The Langstroth Magazine ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.magazinimker.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , magazinimker.de, accessed on September 13, 2011.
  2. ^ Heinz Neumann: Das Zander-Magazin , magazinimker.de, accessed on April 18, 2012.
  3. ↑ Mellifera Einraumbeute http://www.mellifera.de/angebote/einraumbeute/erb/einrichtungen.html
  4. ↑ Mini-Plus-System