Better Comb embedding with wire reinforcement prevents sagging, from Better Bee exclusively

[@jimhughes4765]

I got this comb for brood frames. I found it easier to cut out a board slightly smaller than the comb and then push the wire in as you did. I did not have to lift the cardboard up as it was not used. Simply pressing down the framed came to a perfect stop at the correct depth. I did not have the Better Bee electric hook up. I used a 12 volt battery and 2 leads with clips. When I wired the frames, I left the tie-off wires on the frame and hooked the leads to them. As soon as the frame was melted in, I unhooked the leads and clipped off the wire. It was so quick after I got set up. Took about 20 seconds from hook up to finish. I now have some really great looking frames and comb. I learned about the comb from an earlier video you did and when I ordered the comb, I told them you were the reason. Thanks for all you do to shine a light on beekeeping.

[@FoxFarms2020]

Picked up my first 2 packages on Sunday. Put better comb in the 3 center spots of each hive. I can't wait to look in the boxes next week.

[@jamesgrissom3750]

Very convenient setup . I dont see how it could be any easier .Great illustration as always Mr. Dunn

[@danskisbees7348]

I really like the embedding system, I was going to hook it up directly to my battery charger, lol. It was fun to watch it melt.

[@FrederickDunn]

Smooth and easy :)

[@Steele_Wings]

Thank You for bringing this product to my attention. I purchased 20 frames and the embedding system from Betterbee. Works like shown in the video. I installed these wax frames in my first two bee packages.

[@FrederickDunn]

Great to hear! and you're welcome Patrick. I hope you told them I sent you :)

[@karlelshoff4720]

I got synthetic comb and will use it for brood frames to help prevent the bees in a NUC I purchased from swarming.

[@wpankey57]

Thanks, Fred. Nice video.

[@FrederickDunn]

Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@clifftonwhitaker8]

Thank you sir, very mesmerizing to watch.

[@taylor65712]

Now I feel lazy, I just bought my frames with the comb installed...lol. Working great for my first two early swarms this year 💯 Put a frame of this in each brood box to help them out.

[@FrederickDunn]

All is fair in love and beekeeping.... makes cappuccino and walks outside to stare at bees working... thinking about bees takes energy Taylor, don't sell yourself short!

[@thenotsurechannel7630]

I did this with 10 Deep frames, they have four sections of wire instead of the two in the mediums you have. I built a similar embedding device, touching the wires to the contacts, but only the middle wire sections heated up. When I push down on the frame the middle wires went down easily enough, but the top and bottom remained cool so I had to use jumper cables on either end of the top and bottom wires to heat them up. I managed to get all 10 frames embedded with minimal damage to the comb.

[@FrederickDunn]

I discuss that in this video. Yes, you need to connect your electricity to the ends as only the wire between contacts will heat up. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3qnpJV9g8utqNE

[@russellkoopman3004]

I bought a deep worth of BB comb and it looked hard but was very fast and simple. We shall see how they hold up but it appears to be a good system especially being in the North.

[@FrederickDunn]

Definitely a huge advantage for northern beekeeping. It's only those in hot climates that have shared about sagging or melting problems. I did not expect my late season swarms to make it and I completely attribute that success to the BetterComb allowing the queen to go directly into laying.

[@SmallTNHomestead]

You make everything look so easy Fred 😊 I wish I had purchased this before my bees arrived, I feel like they have to do so much work now. They seem to be happy in their new hives, been feeding them sugar solution and just started giving them pollen patties two days ago. They are gobbling everything up. Friday I will do my first official hive inspection. I did quick releases on the queens for both hives, one with marshmallow and one without, just put her right in. The bees had already started building comb on the queen cages so I was confident to do this. Thanks for the information! By the way, I had two bee packages delivered. One of them had hive beetles in it and the other appeared to have varroah. Since I could see them so clearly I got concerned. I'll put beetle blasters in both hives on Friday. My big question is how soon should I treat them for varroah? I check the bottom boards daily, one hive I found 3 dead so far, the other I have found about 10 dead so far. (Mites) on the one with 10 dead mites, they accumulated over a weeks time. I don't want to freak out, but I'm kind of freaking out. Any suggestions I would appreciate.

[@FrederickDunn]

HI Mary, I will share your post on Friday and discuss package treatments again as it's important for people to know about. Where did you purchase your package bees from? They need to know that they are shipping SHB, that's a terrible testiment. Thank you for sharing.

[@SmallTNHomestead]

@@FrederickDunn I got them from Barnyard Bees. Both queens were healthy and rambunctious, but one package the queens helpers were dead and she was fine. That was the package that had quite a few hive beetles and varroa. I also noticed that the sugar was full. It appears the holes in the can were clogged, they were starving. The second package had no hive beetles and a few varroa, their sugar was half gone and they were much healthier and building comb. Barnyard has a great reputation so I'm not sure what in the heck happened. He prepared the usps label on the 16th and I received the packages on Sunday March 22nd. Not sure when he mailed them or actually packaged them for shipping. I'm just glad post office called me on Sunday, it was a woman who loves bees and knew I needed to get them asap. Also first package had quite a few dead bees, probably because they were hungry. Second package had very few dead. Thanks for your help Fred! Should I just RIP off the bandaid on these ladies and treat them for mites or give them another week or so to bulk up? This morning I noticed the weaker hive bringing in very little pollen and I was shocked. Have no idea where they got it because the strong hive isn't bringing in any pollen yet. I feel terrible they have to work so hard under the circumstances

[@58Kym]

That was very clever and quick!

[@rogerskimberlyg444]

Looks like you are going to give your bees a jump start.

[@buzzedhoneysinc7487]

Yukyuk

[@14623carolanne]

I'm going to try and directly use just the jumper cables. All my med frame better comb shipped to me were broken. I have contacted Better Bee. I ordered assembled frames and none of the wires were tight enough. Ordered a crimping tool off amazon

[@FrederickDunn]

Wow... broken comb and loose wires? I hope they are responsive and help you out. I do like running my own wire these days :)

[@14623carolanne]

@@FrederickDunn Better Bee is going to send me a new box of comb..So yes they did good by me. I'm going to try and use the broken ones first.

[@richardkuhn8115]

Really nice, but too rich for my DNA. I'm a hobbyist and don't get money for being such, plus I am retired. Kudos to those who developed the comb. The whole lot is nifty. Thanks for sharing.

[@matthewsweeney2577]

Excellent info👍

[@RunningWithSauce]

Hi Frederick, Since you're a thinker I wanted to run an idea I had last night while tossing and turning. I'm prepping better comb for a spring nuc addition next year. Do you think if I tried using a hotglue gun loaded with wax sticks that I could "Wax Glue" around the comb on both sides and get a good hold? I'm thinking I could. While the wire definitely reinforces the center, I'm thinking the tension from all sided sticking would hold the center as well. Thoughts? I'm going to try it of course (brood only)

[@RunningWithSauce]

Update. It worked for honey supers too :). I bought some all natural dye free hot white wax from amazon and "welding around all the edges. All frames spun out with little to no damage aside from 1 which below apart. 1/20 isn't a bad sample run. The bees also secured them up pretty well themselves.

[@FrederickDunn]

That's very interesting, there are hot glue guns that have temperature controls, I'd think that being able to keep those temps low would be a great way to use was as you've described. Sorry this response is 3 years late. Being able to heat and spread beeswax onto various surfaces would be a very VERY beneficial tool.

[@RunningWithSauce]

@@FrederickDunn making beeswax sticks? Brilliant!!!! Why didn’t I think of that! FYI this is year 3 of extracting and they have kept working they entire time.

[@sonofthunder.]

shared to my local group,i just did 10 mediums tonite, only burned my finger once

[@stgermain1074]

I thought in your initial video for Better Comb you said it was just for brood frames. Like 6 frames of Better Comb with 2 regular frames on either side.

[@FrederickDunn]

That is exactly what I said :) and that's how I use it. The main purpose for me, is for a quick start to brood with packages or swarm captures to save them using honey/nectar resources to build fast comb. Lots of people asked about using it in honey supers and initially the comb isn't strong enough for that purpose as it was just held in place with toothpicks. Betterbee changed their use description by adding these wire reinforced frames so that it can now hold up to honey extraction. I do keep the bettercomb centered in the boxes with the outter frames being either foundationless, or Acorn heavy waxed.

[@stgermain1074]

@@FrederickDunn A good memory is a blessing and a curse.

[@mihaiilie8808]

I install my own wires.The wire its made from stainless steel on your frames. I also put a eire verry cloose to the top and when i use the 12V power source i glue only a small foundation sheet between just the top 2 wires. Instead of fuse i added a bend copper wire.

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks for sharing! Lots of options for sure!

[@lesterbradshaw4458]

What is make and model of 12 volt power supply and where can it be purchased? 3:21

[@FrederickDunn]

amzn.to/3EMSjr4 That's an affiliate lnk, or you can just do a search for: Schumacher DSR114 DSR ProSeries Jump Starter -

[@lehlandburton6652]

I don't see this on their site anymore.. I just ordered a ten frame of drawn out comb.. I live in Arizona...I don't want sagging issues..😲☹

[@FrederickDunn]

Did you click the link in the video description? Let me see.... this is the kit I bought: www.betterbee.com/frames/bcombkit1.asp

[@johnmenocal1633]

The first 10 Better Bee deep frames I got I used the toothpicks. I like the wire system better. It looked like there were ferrules of some sort on the holes the wires went in. Can I add the wires to the other ten frames I have not set up yet and melt them onto the Better Comb?

[@FrederickDunn]

Yes, you sure can and those little guides are also sold with the wire if you're doing them yourself.

[@roseroberson5010]

could you hook this up to a regular 12V battery charger?

[@FrederickDunn]

You'd just have to give it a test to see. They don't all produce the same amount of energy and some chargers won't deliver electricity unless they detect some charge.

[@roseroberson5010]

@@FrederickDunn Thank you

[@wadebarnes6720]

Does it work good in the brood box

[@FrederickDunn]

absolutely!

[@SouthbayBBQ]

Great video thank you

[@FrederickDunn]

Thanks Eric

[@SouthbayBBQ]

Just ordered 20 myself an heat unit too. Once again great video

[@djmoulton1558]

Is there some reason these couldn't be made from natural bees wax?

[@FrederickDunn]

You can always just have the bees draw out their own comb. Generally the wiring in that situation would be done to the foundation and then the bees draw it out. Bettercomb is really for colonies that need a boost.

[@mihaiilie8808]

The reason its the cost of bees wax. Bees wax costs 10 times more than honey per kilo. Parraffine costs 10 times cheaper than honney per kilo.Paraffine its 100 times cheaper than bees wax. Best parraffine in the world comes from Iran and withstands higher temps . I thonk they used Iranian paraffine to make these combs but altough it resists higher temps its still not as high temp resistant as bees wax.

[@SouthbayBBQ]

Where to buy the comb

[@FrederickDunn]

Link in the video description, BetterBee.com

[@wadebarnes6720]

Watch the name of the wax that they are made out of

[@FrederickDunn]

If you google hexacell, they post the entire composition. largely vegetable proteins.

[@noahzegart5190]

Hi

[@wadebarnes6720]

Does it work good in the and in the

[@HiveRobbers-Honey]

Now you're going to have adulterated wax when you melt down your wax cappings after you harvest your honey

[@FrederickDunn]

This is just for honey extraction, not wax rendering. That's why I want people who choose to use it to make sure the frames are clearly marked in case someone wants to use the wax. It does work for candles though when mixed in with other drawn natural comb.

[@HiveRobbers-Honey]

I'm glad you're doing that I hope other people would do the same we already have enough adulterated honey we don't need fake wax on the market too.

[@moonlightbkpr]

Mr. Dunn I think this is a terrible idea. I am not a fan of this product because it is a SYNTHETIC material and cannot improve the health of the bees Did you do any research into the acceptability of this product? Has anyone done any research into what the bees think of this

[@FrederickDunn]

I don't promote a product before I've taken it through a full cycle with bees. Yes, I've done my research and it is nearly biochemically identical to bees' wax other than it's not actually made by bees. It also lacks the pesticide residue that we currently find in all beeswax produced by our bees. Its advantage is that we can provide bees with drawn comb space at a time of year when they simply can't produce it themselves. I use it sparingly when I am transferring bees, or making splits, or salvaging a colony when environmental resources aren't strong enough. If you want to see how the bees use it, here is one of my videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWWkm5pnmM2Fp7Msi=5sPKhvGs0nqA-yu3 I'd much rather the bees make their own comb, but there are instances where this can save a colony.

[@moonlightbkpr]

I understand that you don’t promote a product until you use it yourself. My question is in regards to findings that were reported in one of the bee publications that stated that 1) the bees would choose “real”beeswax over this product 2)what happens when this synthetic beeswax is added to the real beeswax and now we have a conglomeration of waxes that can no longer bee considered”Pure” 3) sure we harming the bees by not allowing them the ability to cleanse themselves which I hope to prove or disprove in the next year or so I hope all is well in the Dunn house and that you and yours have a healthy and prosperous year.@@FrederickDunn

[@FrederickDunn]

@@moonlightbkpr I invited the Author of that specific article to do an interview with me, and he refused. It's not harmful to the bees at all. It can indeed end up mixed with some of your beeswax comb, so true you can't claim that wax from that brood box is 100% bees wax. If you already have drawn bees wax comb then you won't be putting it in the hive because you already have comb, so the selection of real comb over better comb is not an issue. That author also stated that they wouldn't use it for brood, but they absolutely do. I use it only when and where they can't build comb due to being out of time seasonally, or too small to afford the work force and resources. Bees that are building new comb aren't building brood. Like many things it's a choice to use it or not. It's not in all of my hives. If I were using a hive to build cut-comb for consumption, I would not put it in there. It's pretty clear.

[@moonlightbkpr]

So if you would not use it for consumption why would you use it in your honey supers? When enough people have sent their capping to the big companies how do you consider your wax that you buy for making lip balms and salves and lotions, they will not bee able to call their products as being made with pure beeswax. This is why I am doing research into what the difference is between it and real beeswax. I just don’t see the difference between using it in supers that you will sell the honey to people and comb honey. The honey is still in intimate contact with the SYNTHETIC comb

[@badassbees3680]

Better Comb is Garbage,they definitely needed to do this

[@FrederickDunn]

Perfect for my bee brood boxes :) I'd call them a huge benefit for fast starting late season swarms which all made it through winter :)

[@badassbees3680]

@@FrederickDunn it's better than nothing but it's expensive and it sags.. stretches..

[@mihaiilie8808]

I have added 3-4 wires on my brood frames with bees building natural comb through them. I have a feeling you dont use much of these stainless steel wires and those small bronze staples in USA. Here its verry common but we glue wax sheet like that ,wire by wire not all wires at once ,instead of the full drawn comb wich i never seen except in Mr Dunn tutorials.