Editing Langstroth hive (section)

=== Frames ===
[[File:Beekeeper with moveable comb hive.jpg|thumb|right|A beekeeper inspecting a frame]]
[[File:Honeycomb 091f.jpg|thumb|right|Langstroth frame of [[honeycomb]] with [[honey]] in the upper left and [[pollen]] in most of the rest of the cells]]

Movable frames hold bee combs, the furniture of a hive. They enable a great deal of hive management; inspection and harvest become both easier and less destructive of bees and beekeepers. In winter, bees sometimes can become so cold they are unable to move to the other side of a hive, so beekeepers often prepare hives for winter by moving all the honey together. Movable standard frames also permit transfer of combs of honey, pollen, or brood from a healthy hive to a failing hive. This practice is a mode of transfer of pests and diseases more effectively, that has haunted modern beekeeping since its introduction. Brood transfer even lets workers replace a dead queen by feeding royal jelly to the new brood.

Langstroth frames are usually oriented "the cold way", by permitting a draft from the entrance to move through the brood chamber, but this provides more direct paths from the entrance to the combs. In his book, Langstroth said that he chose this orientation by observing bees' preferences when building comb in box hives.

Modern beekeepers buy three sizes of standardized Langstroth frames to fit the three depths of standardized Langstroth supers. Frames are inexpensively mass-produced. Most beekeepers find making frames themselves to be uneconomical. The woodwork is too intricate and repetitive without specialized tooling.

Since the frame might touch both honey and bees, frames are usually made from inexpensive, nontoxic softwoods such as eastern pine. Plastic frames are also available.

When new frames are installed, they are filled with "foundation", artificial comb made of recycled natural beeswax or plastic. Beeswax foundation usually requires support from metal wires threaded through a frame. Foundation is widely used because bees make wax from carbohydrates that would otherwise be used to make honey. Some references<ref>{{cite book |first=Christy |last=Hemenway |title=The Thinking Beekeeper: A Guide to Natural Beekeeping in Top Bar Hives |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3dyCFv-Qh4C |date=2013 |publisher=New Society Publishers|isbn=978-0-86571-720-6 }}</ref> say that as much as {{convert|7|lb|kg|abbr=on}} of honey are sacrificed for {{convert|1|lb|kg|abbr=on}} of wax.

The use of recycled beeswax concerns beekeepers because it can transmit diseases, such as American foulbrood. Some beekeepers, such as Christy Hemenway,<ref>{{harvnb|Hemenway|2013|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k3dyCFv-Qh4C&pg=PA22 22]}}</ref> have said that they believe that insecticides can be concentrated in the recycled wax, harming bees' health.

The frames in the Langstroth patent were not designed to use foundation. The top bars of the patent Langstroth frames were "comb guides", 60° triangular prisms of wood pointing downwards. These encourage the bees to construct new comb along the edge of the prism, within the frames. Some beekeepers today practice foundationless beekeeping.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Melanie |date=2021-12-08 |title=Foundationless Frames (Foundationless Beekeeping Basics) - Beekeeping For Newbies |url=https://www.beekeepingfornewbies.com/foundationless-frames-foundationless-beekeeping-basics/ |access-date=2022-03-16 |website=www.beekeepingfornewbies.com |language=en-us}}</ref>