MG>From: Mark Goodwin <[log in to unmask]>
  >Date:         Wed, 25 Jun 1997 14:10:07 +1200
  >Subject:      Plastic foundation
  >Organization: HortResearch,Ruakura,NZ
 
MG>Does anyone have a reference for a scientific paper comparing the
  >performance of  plastic foundation and wax foundation.
 
Hello Mark,
 
I am sure that there are some and hope someone will forward them to you.
 
But from experience in beekeeping testing, and most beekeepers this area
use rigid plastic foundations not because it is more better for the bees
but because it is stronger and holds up well with mechanical uncapping
machines and very fast radial extractors, and is not labor intensive to
install in the wooden frames. Anyway in beekeeper field testing the bees
always preferred wax foundation over wax covered plastic film
foundations, or rigid plastic foundations with or without bees wax
coatings. All one has to do is put on foundation during a honey flow
with the wax foundations, and the plastic together to see the
difference.
 
If one were to use what is most acceptable by the bees we would use
foundations made of waxes other then beeswax which because of lower
melting points possible are drawn out much faster and make wonderful
combs, BUT we don't do this here in the USA because of the fear of
adulteration of all beeswax that in time could lower the price of
beeswax to that of the once cheep petrol chemical waxes that were once
waste products of the petrol industry and are no longer so cheep. I
suspect we are in todays world being a little conservative, but then we
are beekeepers pure in heart, our honey, and have virgin beeswax and a
well known history of letting the other guy profit from the rewards of
our labors of love including the problems associated with it.
 
One also could use drone size foundation as they will draw these out
by the super full in the spring on very little honey flow and the honey
extracts faster and cleaner from the bigger cells. Drone combs that is
available for the queen to lay in will be used and good brood combs will
not be changed by the bees to rear drones. (Not a problem with hard
plastic combs.) Also varroa testing and trapping is said to be possible
with drone combs. I can not say this part is all that true with full
extracting supers of drone combs because even though the queen will lay
in them during the honey flow if not restricted by excluders or the
intensity of the flow I believe the mites do better in the warmer
central brood area and don't always use the drone brood in the supers
as I have found it more easy to find low levels of varroa mites in drone
brood in the normal brood area and the drone brace combs the bees will
build between the brood chamber and supers then in the honey supers of
drone combs.
 
If you want to have extra long queen cell and not the nubbins that come
with hard plastic cell cups and bees wax machine made cell cups, make
your own and add *Mobil Wax. They can be so long you may have trouble
using them as they will be attached at the bottom of the next cell bar
or to whatever is handy.<G> Any way some of the local queen breeders
this area use all plastic queen cell cups and produce small cells which
appear to produce very nice queens when fully mated. Again because it is
cost effective and a labor saving thing to do, none use anything other
then bees wax for their cell cups or foundation as far as they know.
 
                             ttul, the OLd Drone
                             Los Banos, California
 
 
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