Mark,
Fact: Bees must consume about 8 pounds of honey (NOT nectar) to produce and
construct 1 pound of wax comb.  Hence, making dawn comb from foundation
decreases the quantity of honey for the beekeeper.

VERY IMPORTANT: You cannot install several supers of foundation all at one
time
and expect to get drawn comb.  Instead you will get a "jungle" of drawn comb
traveling in all directions and particularly bridging in between frames; and
90% of it is NOT salvageable.
The only way to draw foundation properly, i.e., parallel combs each centered
in the
center of the top bar and built the width of the top bar, is to tightly close
10 frames of foundation together (NEVER 9) in one super, install it during a
major nectar flow, wait until about 7-8 of the frames are drawn and filled,
and then add a second super of 10 tightly packed together frames of
foundation, and repeat what you did on the first super before adding a third
super.

It is a lot of time consuming inspection and work to get foundation properly
drawn, and this is the reason that I SHOUT LOUDLY that "Drawn comb is a
beekeeper's MOST
VALUABLE POSSESSION"; and yet careless beekeepers let the wax moths destroy it
after it is extracted and stored away until next year.

I hope I have helped.

George Imirie, Retired Scientist
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper
Starting my 71st year of beekeeping in Maryland and Northern Virginia
Author of George's PINK PAGES @ www.beekeeper.org/george_imirie/index.html

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::