What I Learnt From Making Ross Rounds
As I have mentioned in earlier posts (links at bottom of page), with 2 young children and a busy job, I need to make beekeeping as low intervention as possible. This led me to consider section honey as both a time saver and an opportunity to make something really beautiful that also keeps the natural goodness of local honey. When I discovered Ross Rounds sections (easy assembly, reusable, bees like the round shape), that was it, decision made.
Opening The Ross Rounds Sections
The video below is a novice beekeeper, who has never made sections, and is not very practically-minded, with a wife who is a bit twitchy around bees. It’s definitely not professional, but it does show how easy it is to remove the Ross Rounds sections … watch out for the flying springs:
Packaging The Ross Rounds Sections
Another amateur video of me removing the Ross Rounds frome the racks and packaging them in their plastic containers. It is all very quick and easy, with a beautiful result.
Extended/Uncut Video
If you want to watch a novice beekeeper trying to work out how to package Ross Rounds for the first time, here you go. There are lots of long pauses as I observe and try to work out what to do. It’s like watching my boy trying to work out how to assemble his toy plane … but in this case, it’s an adult (I trained as an engineer … seriously!)
Conclusion
I am delighted with the results:
- Eight sections (each weighs about 200g net)
- Attractively packaged
- Easy to assemble at start of season and harvest at end of season
- Minimal time required (approx. 1 hour to assemble 3 racks at start of season and 1 hour to harvest and store racks at end of season)
- A happy beekeeper!
This is my first effort. I don’t think it has been a great year for honey production, with warnings by the National Bee Unit to feed bees. I have since bought and read Richard Taylors “The Comb Honey Book” – so I know a bit more. Richard refers to making section honey as an art form … and I am starting to get that.
This book has led me to think that next season I am going to try two methods of making honey sections: (1) leave alone – I will use new anti-swarm method I have discussed, and leave the bees to fill the Ross Rounds; (2) possibly try some shook swarms into a super and then queen excluder and 3 Ross Rounds boxes. I’ll write more in due course (subscribe to keep updated).
I will definitely purse Ross Rounds sections next year, and probably every year. “I will get good at it!”
Read More
- Honey Sections – I consider the advantages, disadvantages, options (square, wood, round, plastic) and make a decision to buy Ross Rounds
- Ross Rounds Assembly – I put the section racks together and place on the hive
- My Hive Records – worth a read, now up to an unplanned 7 colonies (including 2 nucs)
- Feeding Bees – This is what a lot of people are doing right now
- Varroa Management – This is what a lot of people are doing right now
- Beekeeping Calendar – I keep updating this based on my reading and experiences
- Anti-swarm method that I reference in my conclusion above
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They look lovely! Are they expensive to make?
I’m not keen on extracting either. Last year I sent my supers off to a place in Derbyshire. They pressed my heather honey for £5 per box (11 supers) also, because they are a professional outfit, I can sell my honey if I want to.
You have to shop around. I paid £74.71 for a complete assembled super of Ross Rounds and £5.66 for each pack of 10 thin super foundation. I.e. about £80 all in. You then need new foundation and round section rings and packaging each year.
Hi Roger, I’ve been following your blog since you started, like yourself I’ve just removed my first years ross rounds, from 2 hives I got 18 full ones and 6 half ones, the half ones I use as giveaways to family and potential customers, I use both the clear and the opaque covers as top and bottom, the worst side getting the opaque cover, I’ve been in a quandary on what to sell them for as a premium product, last year I sold cut comb, half the weight at £6, so I think I should ask a minimum of £12 for these, but others have been saying £15, what do you think ?
if you want to see my extraction, visit my webpage/blog at
http://www.thesecretbeegarden.com.
looking forward to 2017
steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks for reading my stuff.
I think we undersell and undervalue local honey in the UK. It has more value and benefit than manuka honey, plus, it helps (and makes) the local environment. What would a garden be without the sound of honeybees? But this is a national campaign beyond my blog and current capacity.
£10-£20 would be a fair price for a fat Ross Round. Try £12-£15 – let us know how it goes. I don’t have any for sale this year, obviously, my 3lb is for me plus, maybe, the occasional visitor!
Do you have to put foundation in the rounds? When we sell cut honey comb we only use comb from frames with no foundation so the wax is 100% pure (and very thin).
yes and no,lol,
yes you use a wax foundation that is very thin, more like rice paper and pure white,
but in the past when doing normal cut comb like yourself, I just used a 1″ starter strip, I’m thinking of trying that within the ross rounds next yaer, cutting a normal sheet into 3 sections lengthways
Hi Laura and Steve,
Richard Taylor in his “The Comb Honey Book” tried both ways and settled on using the thin super foundation (as opposed to starter strips), which as Steve says is like rice paper. His argument is that despite the results being the same, there “is little saving” in using starter strips and his approach is in line with the best practice of other cut comb beekeepers.
Steve – keep us updated on how it goes if you use the starter strips.
Well done, they look great. I might be tempted to experiment with a couple. I was a bit surprised that the bees hadn’t filled out the whole super. Do you think that was just because it’s not been a great year forage wise/they weren’t a especially strong colony, or are they more reluctant to fill out the rounds than usual super frames?