Universal Frame grip PRO

01 · WHY THE FRAME STICKS

Bees seal every gap smaller than a bee space

It is not dirt, it is building work. The colony fills with propolis any gap smaller than a bee space, and the frame lugs resting in the rebate of the box are exactly that, a small gap — which is why freeing them nearly always calls for a lever. On Hoffman frames there is a second bond: the widened shoulders propolise against each other, so self-spacing does not mean propolis-free. The longer the box has gone unopened and the more propolising the colony, the harder the weld.

02 · HOW TO LIFT WITHOUT BREAKING ANYTHING

First you break the bond, then you lift

Order matters more than force. Free both lugs before pulling on anything: a frame that rises still stuck at one end levers against the other, and that is how a top bar snaps or a comb tears. Start with an outer frame to gain room and slide the rest towards the gap; with the grip on the top bar, lift vertically and clear of the neighbours, which is what stops you rolling bees against the wax — and with them, if you are unlucky, the queen. Mind the temperature: in real heat the wax is soft and a new, loaded comb is the most fragile thing in the hive; in the cold, propolis snaps instead of stretching and the bond lets go all at once.

03 · BEFORE FIRST USE

Give the nuts a turn with a spanner

One minute that changes the tool's life: some units arrive with the lock nuts loose, and used like that the joint goes out of square on day one. Go over them with a spanner before the first outing and check again every few inspections — the same thing you would do with any articulated tool that works by leverage. Wash the propolis off with hot water at the end of the season: stainless steel takes it without trouble.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

If you open your hives every two or three weeks in a mild climate, the universal FG07 lifter covers you and weighs half as much. The PRO wins when the problem is the propolis of a long winter or a day of continuous work — it asks for a firm grip, and 500 g of steel tells by the end of the day.