Langstroth & Dadant wooden super, 9 frames included

01 · WHY A HALF SUPER

Half the height is half the weight to lift

A full super of honey reaches 25-30 kg, and that has to go up, come down and be carried as many times as you have hives. At 17 cm tall instead of the usual 24, the half super weighs roughly half as much full — the difference between finishing the harvest and finishing your back. It also fills sooner, so it is harvested sooner and freed to go back on: the format for anyone who prefers to take honey off in small, frequent batches, and the easier one with honeys that crystallise fast.

02 · STRAIGHT FRAMES AND A RAIL

Here it is the metalwork that spaces the combs, not the frame

The nine frames it carries are straight and wired, 48 × 16 cm, and that changes the handling compared with a Hoffman: a straight-sided frame does not self-space, so comb spacing is set by the galvanised spacer rail included. That is what keeps the bee space between frames and stops the colony joining the combs together. The trade-off of the straight frame is also its advantage: with no wide shoulders, there is no surface to propolise between one frame and the next, and they slide more freely inside the super.

03 · THE TIMBER

Seasoned maritime pine, treated without chemicals

The box is solid maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) at 25 mm, box-jointed on all four corners — the joint carries the weight and the nails only close it. The wood has been dried to 12 % moisture and seasoned for a year before assembly, which is what stops the box moving and going out of square in its first season outdoors. Treatment is heat phytosanitary, with no chemical products: nothing that could migrate into wax or honey.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is Dadant US and Langstroth size — 48 cm frame top bar — not Dadant Blatt, which is a centimetre shorter. And it is built for a separate floor: flat faces, no migratory straps. If you are going to move it, fasteners go between the parts.