# Bee-O-Pac



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Yes, you have to manage the bees just like with RR or Hogg Half Comb or Sections etc.


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

Do you sell your BOPac Michael? Do you find the public is a little less apprehensive about buying the smaller quantity (albeit at probably a higher cost per oz)?

Mike


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I bought some of the Bee-O-Pac. I've been busy rearing queens, so I haven't actually made much of it (or got the bees to make it, actually). But the principles are the same as any of that kind of comb honey.

I do find that all sizes of all products are usually salable. People often want to try something before they spend more on it, or some don't care what it costs and just want something pretty and interesting. They might be useful for both of those markets.


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

I use a lot of different comb cassettes, and every year I make more and more comb honey. My review of the bee-o-pace is mixed but still somewhat favorable (or maybe I'm too subborn to five up the challenge).

On the whole, I like the Bee-o-pac and sell them for $2.50 at the farmer's market. People like the price, but it also takes a little education to tell them what it is. Some of the cassettes crack on the bottom corners and leak. They are very flimsy, but attractive and cute if you handle them gently. 

With those leaky cassettes, I'll scrape out the comb and filter out the wax to salvage the liquid honey. This, of course, means your cassette is shot. Also, if the bees do not fill out all eight sections on a frame of bee-o-pac, those partially filled cassettes cannot be reused as you cut apart the whole frame to remove the filled sections, and any partially filled sections are trash.

However, though I continue to use bee-o-pac, people here in SE Missouri much prefer wood sections boxes from Kelley's rather than Ross Rounds, though Ross Rounds definitely puts out a better product. I don't know if it's a wood vs. plastic issue or old-fashioned vs. new-and-improved. I sell section boxes for $5 and RR for $4.50. I sell the section boxes in a flimsy clam shell and the RR cannot be beat for their packaging.

However, my best comb honey seller that probably takes up 80% of my comb sales is a slab of chunk honey set in a wide-mouth pint canning jar surrounded with extracted honey. I get $6.00 for this pint jar. This slab originates from a shallow super with unwired comb foundation. I cut them just shy of 2-1/2" inches wide and I get seven slabs per frame. A shallow super is just the right height for a pint canning jar.

In terms of costs, chunk honey is by far the cheapest and the most profitable. Section boxes take more time to assemble. RR are real easy to put together, but the components cost more. The bee-o-pac is expensive, but if you can get all of the sections filled, and don't have any leaks, it will bring in the most money.

This year the demand is so good for my chunk honey that I've had to cut the comb out of section boxes and RR's, then cut them in half to fit a pint jar, pouring extracted honey around them. Thankfully these cassettes can be reused. All that is needed is new foundation.

Like any comb honey cassette, you have to know your customers.

And one other thing: when I set up my bee-o-pac, I put together nine frames (you hae to assemble the halves). The tenth frame is not put together, but left as two separate halves. I place each of these halves on the outer edges of the box with the "comb" facing toward the inside of the box, and the "inside" of the frame facing the outer edge of the side board. 

Still, the bees do not like these outer frames in my bee-o-pac. And some sections are not filled out evenly like section boxes or RR's, One side is "humped up" and the opposing face on the next frame is concave. This creates a problem when you put on the lid, and you do not have uniform sizes. Also, you cannot cut out the wax for chunk honey.

I think this next year I'm going to go with nine frames of bee-o-pac and some kind of divider board to avoid the uneven sections.

No matter what system of cassettes you use, crowding the bees without swarming is the key. It can be done. John Hogg and his Juniper Hill system is fantastic. 

I owe much gratitude to John.

Grant
Jackson, MO


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