The Beetle Resistant Frame (BRF) has been specifically designed for our customers battling the small hive beetle.
We have found that because of the small hive beetle most beekeepers where it is endemic use wooden frames with plastic foundations. This reduces the places that small hive beetle can hide from the bees. But the downside of this is the time, effort and cost associated with using wooden frames. The BRF is a plastic frame with bee cells built into the top, side and bottom bars. This allows the bees to get in there and chase any small hive beetles out, and also use the cells for storing pollen and honey. These cells filled with bee stores can't harbour small hive beetle.
Another feature is that we have substantially strengthened the frame and the lugs/ears. Beekeepers in Australia have pointed out that they have some unique issues to deal with. For example, travelling 2,000 kilometres with honey supers full of heavy frames bouncing along rough bush roads. And I know they are unhappy if they arrive at the honey house with broken lugs off frames. So you will find that not only is the BRF stiffer, it is stronger in all the necessary places, and we believe it will compare favourably with your standard wooden frames. Cause lets face it, wood over time can rot or succumb to termites, but the BRF should give you 5 to 10 years of solid performance at a fraction of the cost of a wooden frame.
The BRF contains 400 more cells than a standard frame which is a 5% increase in total surface area compared to the standard frame.
