On 28 Apr 97 at 18:04, Thomas W. Hoyt wrote:
 
>>  Do I always have to buy foundation for new frames...or
>>  can  let the bees make their own?
>
>
> You DO have to buy foundation - or the bees will make their
own CROSSWAYS or
> whatever other way that they decide to build at the time.  Foundation is
> essential to being able to manipulate the frames later on.
>
My own experience is different. In one period of my beekeeping
(lasting five years) I was too lazy and too busy to wire frames
and to fix foundation.
I always  cut  old comb off leaving just 1 inch strip on top.
Such frames has always been built perfectly on condition that
they had been placed into a hive BETWEEN TWO COMBS.
Later I found that even any strip of comb or foundation on the
top bar is not necessary. On the other hand was clear soon that
to wire frames is a must, as new combs without wires are too
easy  to broke. The only 'disadvantage' of this practise was
that combs were often half or even all drone combs.
 
Last few years I gave up this practise because of Varroa.
Removing of sealed drone brood is an important part of my Varroa
control and it is very convenient to have all drone brood
concentrated in only few (2-3) drone combs. It means I have
to use foundation for other frames.
 
In Varroa free time I kept bees (30 colonies) with a good
success and honey crops without any foundation (more: I save a
lot of many not buying foundation and got much more of bees wax).
I thing that most of beekeepers do use foundation because they
wish to have 'nice' combs without drone cells.
In old Czech beekeeper's magazine were described methods how to
reduce number of drones including traps and long knifes as
drones were believed to reduce honey crops. Isn't using
foundation just a 'more human' continuation of this medieval
practises?
Are there any reliable proofs of reduced honey crops due to
number of drones?
What are other reasons for using foundation?
 
Vita Vydra