> There are also colonies which are just plain cussed about working
> plastic, and even with wood/wax there are always a few which
> just do not
> draw comb well to the pattern we want. Perhaps the colony
> being referred
> to is one of those.

I have found that unless there is a flow on bees may make a mess no matter
what the foundation is. If I must put foundation on a hive I try and make
sure the hive is very strong and has a need to draw out the foundation in a
hurry. For example if I pull three supers of honey off a hive and a flow is
still on I can put on one super of foundation in their place.

If I have a hive without supers and it seems to weak to do the job I start
feeding it about sixty  days before I will put a super of foundation on.
This stimulates brood production and gets the bees filling up the frames in
the bottom boxes. Once the hive is strong enough I stop feeding and give the
bees some time to finish up the syrup. The next time a flow starts put the
super on and they should draw it out.