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Pieces of an unassembled wood frame
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Frames in a honey super
Inspecting a brood
frame of bees
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Double-reinforced ears and side-bars
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A frame has traditionally been four pieces of wood that fit together to hold a sheet of honeycomb within a beehive. Newer frame designs are one-piece, molded frames with foundation, which are lighter, more durable, and produce more brood and honey than old-style wood frames.
A normal, Langstroth-type hive box contains 9 or 10 frames -- Brood Boxes contain 10 frames, Honey Supers usually contain 10 frames, although some beekeepers using frame spacers to achieve 9 frames per super.
The old-style wood frames consists of a top bar, a bottom bar, and two end bars. The wood frame contains a sheet of either beeswax or plastic foundation, embossed with a honeycomb cell pattern. This pattern provides a base for the worker bees to build the wax cells out from the foundation.
The newer-design one-piece, molded frames have the top bar, bottom bar, end bars, and honeycomb foundation all in one integrated unit. This has various advantages, including better durability, increased honeycomb cell space, easier use, and overall lower cost.
