The Australasian Beekeeper

Joe Tobin, a well-respected beekeeping equipment manufacturer based at Raglan (Bathurst) on the Central Tablelands of NSW has spent the last 2 years developing an all-in-one frame.  Joe looked at existing ‘plastic’ frames and saw that many of them have small ‘holes’ in their construction, which would act as refuges for Small Hive Beetle. He wanted to construct a frame that had no ‘hidey holes’ for SHB in which they could shelter from the bees, was stronger than existing plastic frames, was not a hybrid (plastic foundation in a wooden frame) and did not need to be coated with beeswax by the beekeeper to improve its attractiveness to bees.

The final product designed by Joe does not need any further assembling or extra work before using them in the hive.  The frame is made from a talc-filled polypropylene and is sprayed before sale with a thin layer of beeswax to enhance its attractiveness to bees.

Due to the lack of the thick wooden frame the comb area of the ‘Rede’ frame is substantially bigger in area.  10 ‘Rede’ frames have an equivalent cell area to 11 conventional combs.

Fully-drawn Rede frame. Note the thin top bar allows for extra cells.

Joe described the project of making these frames as a great big learning curve.  He started with a lignum and cellulose material from Germany, but this material had problems with the injection moulding process. The lignum produced a gas which affected the workings of the dye.  Early prototypes warped due to the variable mould temperatures.

The final product, which Joe has named the ‘Rede’ frame, has been trialled by 20 beekeepers.  The ‘Rede’ frame needs to be drawn out by the bees.  Similar to all other frame concepts, be they plastics or beeswax, conditions have to be favourable.  In our cases, we have both had a yellow box honey flow for the best part of December and January.  The bees showed no hesitation in drawing out a very nice comb.  We suggest anyone using these combs draw them out when your bees are on a good nectar and pollen source and the colony has plenty of wax-producing young bees in the hive.

Top corner, showing construction of Rede frame

Bottom corner, showing construction of Rede frame

Top frame shows brood pattern in Rede frame

Once drawn and placed in the brood box, the  frames are well-accepted by the bees and queens readily lay eggs. At $5 a frame, they may be seen by some to be a little expensive but they require absolutely no labour to construct and assemble. Compare these with ‘conventional’ beeswax frames, which cost about $2.40/ frame to purchase and then have to be assembled, wired and waxed, or with plastic frames which may need to have a layer of wax applied. Thus, if you are time-poor, or if you value the cost of labour, they are certainly worthy of consideration.