At 08:38 AM 1/7/97 -0600, you wrote:
>> The best possition for foundation is the side of the brood nest.
>> This means foundation should be inserted between the so called
>> "cover comb" containing honey and pollen and the first brood comb
>> and than again on the other side of the hive between the last brood
>> comb and the other cover comb. This arrangment should allow the
>> colony to produce wax and use it most economically.
>
Just a thought.  Last spring I split 2 hives into 3.  I placed foundation on
the outer edges of the brood box that I took the brood out of and also had
foundation on the sides of the "new" hive with 4 brood frames in the center.
I did the split in early april prior to our normal swarm season here in
South central US of A.  When I next inspected the hives the foundation had a
huge number of drone cells on the new foundation and a large mite population
in these drone cells.  I treated for mites and the hives survived but I had
a large drone population the entire year.
 
I believe that last year their was a thread about using foundation in the
brood box to control mites by taking out this extra drone comb.
 
With the new year comming on, I think this would be a good time to discuss
this again.
 
Richard Barnes
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