It's been a while since I've written an update on what is happening here
in Alberta.  Summer is here and, with it, one of the earliest flows I can
ever recall.  Let's hope it lasts.  Eric was saying he was going to pull
honey this week, and that it is unthinkably early.  We have some full
supers too, but we did a fair bit of splitting and the brood boxes on the
splits always absorb a fair bit of the first flow, so we are not under
tremendous pressure to extract, yet.  We will have to pull the hives down
a bit, though, if this continues, since we have to move 1,800 onto canola
seed pollination, and if the hives are heavy, the job will be impossible.
 
As many list regulars will recall, we have added a lot of plastic
foundation over the past few years.  Two years ago we added 10,000 sheets
of Permadent and have been using plastic sheets to renew about 2,500 old
frames since then.
 
This year we decided to try 10,000 Pierco standard frames.  Here are some
comments:
 
Compared to the old way, wax and wire, Permadent was easy to install
 and handle.  When complete, supers of Permadent can be trucked around and
are not damaged by wind or rough handling or exposure to sun.  Frames of
Permadent can be used like follower boards in spring, then moved in to the
centre of a brood chamber after being drawn, or when the time seems right.
 We found we could get them drawn simply by inserting several into supers
that were leaving the honey house after extracting. Sitting over winter
in supers in storage is no problem.  The bees pick up where they left off
the previous year.
 
Frame spacing has not been critical, and we would often stick two into a
Stoller spaced 8 frame super (standard 10 frame box) in positions 3 and 5.
 In self spacing supers, we would simply revert to 10 frames rather than 8
or 9 and use 3 plastic sheets in the centre, all adjacent.  Sometimes they
would return undrawn, but almost always got finished the next time out.
Sometimes there would be  an area that was drawn out for drones or brace
comb, but it was easily scraped off and the bees would correct it the next
trip onto a hive.
 
The largest nuisance with sheet foundation is, of course, arranging the
labour to install the foundation and to assemble the frames.  The supplies
must be obtained and then some management, skilled work, and delay is
involved before the product can be used.   Months elapse from the time the
various supplies arrive until 10,000 frames are complete, and after
completion they are a nuisance to handle, having to be transported in
supers or stacked on pallets.
 
Using Pierco frames eliminates these problems, since the frames arrive
complete in cardboard boxes about 20 inches cubed and are easy to lug
around.  About two or three weeks after we made up our mind to buy, the
frames arrived.  The very same day we were installing them in supers on
their way to the field.  That night they  were being drawn and filled with
honey.  Not so with the Permadent.  It took weeks and months to get much
of it into use.
 
The Pierco frames we ordered are molded of black plastic -- not white.  We
decided, after our years of experience with RossRounds (r) equipment, that
bees just like dark plastic better.  Moreover, we expect that the frames
will not look dirty after a few years like white plastic frames do.  A
bonus of this decision was that we could see the instant that the bees
began to work on it, since the new wax is white and shows up strongly
against the black foundation.
 
Here is a really interesting observation: After adding supers with the
Pierco one day, I decided to check some of our yards one evening at about
9 PM.  the bees were up in the supers and I could see them drawing out the
comb and storing honey on the black frames.  A day later I returned in the
mid-morning and found *no* bees up in the same supers.  It struck me then
again why it is so absolutely essential to add more supers to a hive in
late spring than any novice beekeeper -- and many an experienced
beekeepers -- thinks is necessary, because a sudden flow or warm spell
sends the bees up, and, if one has not added supers, one will never know
what might have happened.  It happens fast and for short spurts when no
one is looking.  Those who fail to super well ahead of the bees will never
even suspect what their bees might have done, given space.
 
Anyhow, the Pierco is going fast, and over half of it is now in supers on
the hives or on the way out.  I am delighted with the ease of use.  In
looking into hives that have a sheet of permadent and a frame of Pierco, I
seem to see the bees favouring the Pierco by a wide margin.  Nonetheless,
I must add that the Pierco was molded and waxed only a few weeks ago now,
and the Permadent may have been in stock for a year or more.  Does
freshness matter?  I suspect so.  The fact that the Pierco foundation is
black also exaggerates the new work by the bees because of the contrast.
The same amount of drawing on a Permadent is not as obvious since the wax
is white and so is the foundation.
 
Anyhow, so far we are delighted with the Pierco.  I hope we are as
delighted when we are uncapping and extracting.
 
Allen
 
 
 
 
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