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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
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Mon, 5 Dec 2011 03:18:34 -0800
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> Has anyone on the list tried a wax foundation
> that did not have any cell imprint on it?

It was either the enthusiastic report at http://beesfordevelopment.org/uploads/Low%20cost%20Foundation%20_21_.pdf or another like it that encouraged me to give plain wax a try.

It seemed like a good way to use up wax, as making the foundation required no tools and minimal effort: a small amount of wax in a couple of 13x9 baking pans half filled with water. Put the oven on timer at around 150-180 degrees and the sheets are ready and waiting in the morning. Very thin was brittle, so care had to be taken. The sheets were inserted in frames the same way as embossed foundation, held in place by fishing line both sides. One using a horizontal set of strands, the other a diamond.

After the flow, we have a steady supply of nectar from gardens in the area. The plain frames in the brood area drawn during the spring flow were good but the bees tended to skip to the next honey comb rather than draw comb on the plain foundation. None of the plain foundation provided at other times of the year was drawn well, even those placed in the brood area were not drawn out until the following spring.

The bees tended to start in multiple random locations, and build vertically i.e. out fom the foundation so when two plain frames were side by side they were joined together by burr comb. If plain frames were placed between drawn frames the bees started vertical cell building in multiple places but seemed to lose interest and never finish the job, most were not joined to the drawn frames. Thickness of the sheets did not seem to matter.

The paper writes about getting good results during the spring flow, and that was true for me in the brood nest, but then again, anything will give good results in a flow.

My interest was in how well bees drew comb during lesser periods and that showed very large differences. Fresh frames are always placed between a pair of drawn frames, and a ranking of best results would be starter strip followed closely by embossed foundation, with a big drop to plain foundation.

Fooling around with plain foundation only lasted three years, starter strips were less effort and provided better results. Starter strips are easy, slices of plastic foundation pressed into the frame's groove with a vice.

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