Ideal

Ideal frames are the shallow frames made for Ideal supers, the shallowest of the four frame depths we stock, and plenty of beekeepers run them because a super full of capped honey stays light enough to lift without strain. All of our Ideal bee frames are AA grade pine with 35mm self-spacing end bars, so once pushed together they hold the correct bee space between combs, and brass eyelets are fitted where the wire passes through the timber.

The three versions differ in how much work is left for you. The kit arrives flat to nail up, wire and fit with foundation yourself; the assembled frame is strung with two strands of 304 stainless wire, ready for a sheet of foundation; and the waxed frame already carries pure beeswax foundation, so it can go straight into the hive. Whichever you pick, Ideal frames only suit Ideal boxes. WSP and Manley frames are deeper and will not fit an Ideal super, so check your box depth before ordering beehive super frames.

Our Ideal hive boxes come in 8-frame and 10-frame widths. For kit frames, add pure beeswax Ideal foundation and the Ideal wax foundation embedding board. At harvest, some of our Königin tangential extractors take eight Ideal frames against four full depth.