On 23 April, Bill Meister wrote: "To date,I have not tried traditional
beeswax foundation."
If you work at the level of 4 colonies, it sounds very strange not to start
with the simplest and oldest methods. Plastic foundation is artificial and
creates special problemns for bees (they find it unnatural, and try to avoid
it by buiding natural comb cross ways) and beekeepers ( bees have to be
forced to draw it out, it is difficult to clean  and re-wax unless u have
tanks for steaming and dipping).  There is obviously a case for artificial
foundation in  professional beekeeping at the industrial scale - but with
only 4 colonies?
Beewax foundation is very cheap in UK if u return the wax for recycling - it
costs less than one jar of honey to refit 9 deep brood frames with pre-wired
foundation each year.  True, a solar wax extractor for recovering is yet
another piece of equipment that adds to the costs of starting up but (at the
hobby level) , that that can be avoided by simply using a vegetable
steamer - a 3 piece stainless steel steamer costs £10 ($16) in UK - plus £5
($8) for an extra bigger top piece if u want it that does speed up the work.
Renewing brood combs yearly keeps disease down. Does wax foundation cost a
lot more in USA?
Robin Dartington

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