Andrew Weinert wonders about Pierco frame success in the northern US and in
Canada.
 
As I manufacture and sell beekeeping equipment, primarily to dealers and
beekeepers in the northern half of the country, I regularly talk with
commercial beekeepers.  During the past few years more and more have been
converting to Pierco.  They cite reduction of labor and greater strength as
the primary reasons.  Last year I tried a couple of hundred and this year
drew around 1,000 frames.  I will share my experiences.
 
During a strong flow or when drawing from feed, the bees do not show any
preference for the waxed, compared to the unwaxed frames.  During weaker
flows the bees are very reluctant to draw from unwaxed frames unless the
frames are first dipped in sugar water (I am sure corn syrup would do just
as well).  Whether waxed or unwaxed and dipped in syrup, my bees did not do
a good job of drawing the plastic foundation when new frames were
interspersed with drawn frames.  For reasons that are not clear to me they
readily drew 10 frames of perfect foundation above a brood nest. However, if
two or three frames were interspersed in a brood nest they built a lot of
drone and burr combs and extended the comb on the adjacent frames,
particularly on the corners, into the plastic frames.
 
Next year, if I have to draw comb in a brood nest I will use normal wax
foundation.  With that exception, from now on I will only be drawing Pierco
frames and will purchase waxed frames.
 
Lloyd
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Owner, Ross Rounds  the finest in comb honey production.