# Betterbee & Mann Lake



## SD2522 (May 26, 2009)

Just wanted to share, I have used both Betterbee and Mann Lake, both have been fantastic to deal with (both on the phone and internet). Mann Lake is also offering a Bee Bucks program, I'm not quite sure how it works, but appears it could be beneficial. Pleasant staff, shipping and quality. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend them.


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## BeeAware (Mar 24, 2007)

I like these two companies as well. I like Betterbee's wooden ware best, but Mann Lake seems to understand that they need inventory and staff to handle the early season rush. Some companies will take two or three weeks to ship in the busy season. Mann Lake always ships within a couple of days.


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## JohnK and Sheri (Nov 28, 2004)

We have found Mann lake has absolutely the best customer service of any of the various supply houses we deal with. Being employee owned makes a difference I think. They go the extra mile for their customers, shipping same or next day as order.
Sheri


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## ekrouse (Aug 26, 2004)

I had been ordering wooden ware from Betterbee since I use them for bottles & Jars and liked the idea of 7/8" thick wood stock, but went back to Dadant and Kelley for woodenware. I have had repeated problems with Betterbee supers... splits, cracks, broken or missing box joints, decayed wood, big gouges, etc. The last couple of orders had more than 10% defective. Betterbee did replace everything although some of the replacements also had problems. I took pictures of everything from the last order. I find the wood quality to be inferior as well. It seems more like construction grade fir rather than pine.

The other problem with the Betterbee hives & supers is that the wood is 7/8" thick. I orginally liked the concept of thicker wood stock, but soon realized that the extra thickness reduces the internal width by 1/4". Once the frames start to get some propolis I find it much harder to get frames back in the Betterbee boxes compared to Dadant and Kelly boxes.

While I won't use them for hive bodies, I will continue to use them for Bottles, jars, Pierco foundation and a number of other things. They have reasonable prices and they are very friendly to deal with.

-ekrouse


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## eaglehound (Aug 13, 2008)

ekrouse said:


> It seems more like construction grade fir rather than pine.
> 
> I orginally liked the concept of thicker wood stock, but soon realized that the extra thickness reduces the internal width by 1/4". Once the frames start to get some propolis I find it much harder to get frames back in the Betterbee boxes compared to Dadant and Kelly boxes.
> -ekrouse


I agree that the wood seems more like construction fir than pine. But I believe that the interior sizing of the boxes is standard - that the extra 1/8" per dimension sticks 'out' rather than 'into' the box space. When I stack one of my Betterbee boxes on top of a Brushy box, there is a 1/8' rim overhang created. Just my observation.


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## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

When I purchased my colonies in March 2009 I also purchased some select grade deeps (he had a few extras not used). I then ordered from Kelley 50 of their commercial grade medium boxes. The wood in Kelley's commercial grade boxes was every bit as good as the wood in the select grade from the deeps. Kelley also provided excellent service.

I ordered my small cell plastic frames from MannLake. Also, excellent service and quality of their goods.

I can't imagine anyone being better than these suppliers. Both companies shopped around for me and got cheaper rates than U.P.S.

Thanks Kelley Bee and MannLake for your excellent quality and unsurpassed service.

Danny:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


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