SIPA® Queen rearing frame Dadant Blatt

01 · THE SIZE

A 47 cm top bar: this is Blatt, not US

Dadant Blatt is the French and Italian standard and its top bar measures 47 cm; Dadant US, the usual size in Spain, measures 48. The frame hangs by the lugs of its top bar on the rebate: in a box built for 48 cm, a 47 cm top bar falls short and drops off at one end. Measure the top bar of a frame you already own before ordering: «Dadant» alone does not separate the two sizes.

02 · BUILD

Stainless steel and a 1-litre trough in one piece

The body is stainless steel rather than timber: it does not swell with the damp of the brood nest, wax and propolis scrape off without splintering, and it washes down whole at the end of the season. Along the top sits a 1-litre plastic trough bolted to the body, so syrup hangs beside the cups, not in a separate feeder. The maker calls it a «hybrid» frame: feeding and rearing in one slot.

03 · THE BARS

Three slotted bars, with room for five

It comes with three stainless steel bars, each carrying a continuous slot that takes the cup-holder bases of the Nicot and Jenter systems. They lift out without tools: you can graft at a bench and carry only the loaded bar to the apiary, or move it whole into the incubator without handling queen cells singly. The side rails are notched at several heights and accept up to five bars.

04 · THE FAMILY

Which of the five rearing frames is yours

Pick by the box: this one and the unbranded pine frame are Dadant Blatt; the other three are Dadant US at 48 cm, Langstroth and Layens. Between the two Blatt frames the difference is not size but kit: the pine one has two plain bars and no feeder; this one, a stainless body, a 1-litre trough and three slotted bars. For one batch a year the pine frame is enough; for back-to-back batches, this one.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It arrives as the body, the trough and the three bars. Cup-holder bases and cell cups are bought separately: the bars ship with the slot empty, and how many cups you fit depends on the block you mount. If you work with JZBZ cups, check first that your bases seat in that slot. And no piece of handling kit raises a batch on its own: acceptance rests on young larvae, nurse bees and steady feeding.