Zander
Lexikon
The Zander size is one of the most commonly used frame sizes in Germany and was developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by the zoologist and bee researcher Enoch Zander together with the beekeeper Johann Merz.
The Zander size is one of the most commonly used frame sizes in Germany and was developed at the beginning of the twentieth century by the zoologist and bee researcher Enoch Zander together with the beekeeper Johann Merz. The frame has outer dimensions of 420 by 220 millimeters and is used in the same size in both the brood chamber and the honey super.
It is precisely this uniform comb size that is considered a great practical advantage of the system: combs can be swapped between brood chamber and honey super, so that, for example, old, dark brood combs can be systematically retired and replaced by newly drawn honey combs. With strong colonies, many beekeepers place two Zander brood boxes on top of each other to create enough space for the brood nest and the arc of stores around it.
Regionally in Germany, Zander competes above all with the German Normal Measure, with both systems being very similar in design and handling and differing mainly in frame size. For newcomers it is crucial to settle on one size early on, because boxes, frames, and queen excluders of the different systems are not interchangeable, and switching later means buying almost all the equipment anew.