The Best Bee Hive Frames for Sale

In this day and age, making use of bee hive frames is an efficient way of beekeeping. The best bee hive frames put the available space in your bee hives to good use. There are several very good reasons why you need to use bee hive frames if you are a commercial beekeeper. For one thing, the best bee hive frames for sale are perfectly designed and suited for many different hive sizes.

They also help your honey bees when it comes to making honey by giving them a guide as to where to build comb. But perhaps the best reason why you would appreciate the best bee hive frames is that they make it easier to harvest honey as well as other products when the time comes.

What are the Different Types of Bee Hive Frames for Sale?

Today, the main types of bee hive frames available for sale are either made out of wood or plastic. These bee hive frames can be used with or without foundation. In many cases, beekeepers use plastic foundations that are coated with wax.

The different bee hive frames available are either made out of wood or plastic.

Benefits of Wood Frames

• Bees take to wood frames easily. It is a natural material for them.
• Can be repaired if damaged. Additionally, pieces of old frames can be used to make new frames.
• You can build your own wood frames.
• Does not warp or bend.
• Can practice either foundation or foundationless beekeeping
• Eco-Friendly

Cons of Wood Frames

• If the wood is weak it will split.
• Dense wood could make the beehive heavy.
• Some wood frames are unassembled.

Benefits of Plastic Frames

• They are fully assembled.
• Foundation is installed.
• Plastic frames generally last longer than wood frames.
• Good pest and parasite control, as insects cannot burrow through plastic.
• Black frames and foundation make it easy to spot eggs.

Cons of Plastic Frames

• Unnatural material to bees. Cannot be used in organic beekeeping.
• Must use plastic foundation – bees will not make comb on plastic frames without foundation
• Can loose shape if exposed to high temperature
• Cannot be repaired if broken
• Frames must be waxed to prevent bees from drawing comb on them

Langstroth beehives typically have standard measurements. That makes it easy to buy bee hive frames. All bee hive frames will have the same length and width. The only difference will be the depth. Choose frames based on the size of box you are using – deep, medium, or shallow.

The 5 Best Bee Hive Frames for Sale Review

Here are some of the best bee hive frames for sale that you should consider for your commercial beekeeping business:

Mann Lake Assembled Commercial Frames

These Mann Lake Assembled Commercial Frames come in a pack of 20. These frames are fully assembled, complete with waxed black Rite-Cell Foundation. These frames will fit all standard Langstroth beehives.

Mann Lake is a known beekeeping company that prides itself on making quality beekeeping supplies in the USA. And these frames are no different. You may notice that the waxed foundation is black, instead of yellow. Some beekeepers like to use black foundation in brood boxes because it’s easier to spot the eggs on a black background.

Features and Pros of the Mann Lake Assembled Commercial Frames

• Includes 20 Frames per pack
• Fully assembled commercial frames with waxed Black rite-cell foundation
• Measurements: 19-inch length by 1-3/8-inch width by 9-1/8-inch Height
• Features high Precision cuts, full 1/2-inch thick bottom Bar, standard width bottom Bar and glued joints
• Made in the USA

Cons

• Foundation may not have enough wax. To add more, soften some beeswax and rub it on.

Honey Keeper Frame Kit

The Honey Keeper Frame Kit contains everything you need to build replacement Langstroth hive frames. The frames are made of New Zealand pine and have pre cut finger joints, making assembly a breeze. This frame kit also includes heavy duty nails to use. You get 10 frames in this kit.

Features And Pros of the Honey Keeper Frame Kit

• Comes with 10 deep frames
• Easy to assemble
• Use to swap during harvesting or replace broken frames
• Made of New Zealand pine wood

Cons

• No wax on foundation

Official Flow Frame Classic 7

The one thing that stands out most about the Official Flow Frame Classic 7 is that they are designed to make your life as a beekeeper much easier. They do this by allowing for easy harvesting of honey. When you have these frames, you don’t have to remove them from the beehive to get to the honey because they use something called “flow technology.”

This technology causes very minimal disturbance to the bees and allows you to harvest your honey without using any extractors nor removing the frames from the hives. With this set, you get a flow key as well as honey tubes that you can use during harvesting.

These frames come with an easy to follow printed manual, thus making them a breeze to use for both experienced beekeepers and beginners alike. You can get the most out of these frames if you use them in conjunction with flow hives that have observation windows. Made out of food grade plastic, the Official Flow Frame Classic 7 is extremely efficient and doesn’t hurt any bees during harvesting since you don’t have to remove the frames.

Features and Pros of Official Flow Frame Classic 7:

• Made using flow technology, which makes these frames convenient for honey harvesting
• Can be used with existing Langstroth beehives, with modifications
• They are made using food grade plastic, which means that beekeepers can be sure they are harvesting and selling honey that is safe for human consumption

Cons:

• You can only use them with Langstroth beehives that have been configured into flow hives

If you are looking for frames that will make your life that much easier, you should definitely consider giving these Official Flow Frame Classic 7 a look.

Acorn Bee 10-Pack Medium Plastic Frames

Designed for those who have medium sized boxes, these Acorn Bee 10-Pack Medium Plastic Frames are made out of food grade plastic that is safe to use for humans. They have installed the foundation, and the fact that these foundations are also made out of plastic makes them very long lasting.

Another advantage that comes with the use of these frames is that they are quite resistant to pest infestations, which makes them perfect for protecting your honey bee colony. Most pests have a difficult time burrowing through plastic foundations.

Because these frames are generally black in color, beekeepers can easily observe bee activity on them as the contrasting white color makes the wax visible. This pack comes with 10 frames, which makes them perfect for farmers who want to fill out their beehives and still have a few frames left over for replacement purposes.

Features and Pros of the Acorn Bee 10-Pack Medium Plastic Frames:

• The frames are made out of food grade plastic making them both safe to use for humans as well as durable
• They are black in color, which makes them perfect for farmers who want to easily observe bee activity on them
• They have plastic foundations which ensures that these frames are resistant to pest attacks
• They feature precision-molded cells on them, and these help bees build uniformly sized cells and thus give better yields

Cons:

• You might need to add some beeswax on them
• If you are a naturalist beekeeper, then the fact that they are made out of plastic may be an issue for you

Easy to use, long lasting and resistant to pest attacks, the Acorn Bee 10-Pack Medium Plastic Frames are excellent additions to any beekeeper’s farm.

Harvest Lane Honey 5-Pack Deep Bee Frames

The mere fact that these frames are manufactured by Harvest Lane Honey, a reputable brand in the beekeeping industry, should be enough to tell you that you are dealing with excellent quality. The Harvest Lane Honey 5-Pack Deep Bee Frames are very well built, long lasting and made to be used for brooding or harvesting. They are designed to fit Langstroth beehive dimensions and will work well with both 8-frame and/or 10-frame setups.

These frames are made with plastic foundations that are coated with wax, but the outer frames are made out of wood. Because these frames come in a pack of 5, they can either be used as replacement frames or for deep bee hive boxes.

Features and Pros of the Harvest Lane Honey 5-Pack Deep Bee Frames

• They are simple yet feature excellent craftsmanship and therefore very well constructed and long lasting
• They are made out of both plastic and wood
• They feature wax coated foundations that are readily accepted by honey bees

Cons:

• You might need to apply more wax on the frames

These are some of the simplest, yet very well-constructed frames in the market today.

If you have been looking for bee hive frames for sale with no luck, you could try any of the five mentioned here to great satisfaction.

This article was originally published on July 26, 2019 and updated on February 19, 2020.