I have, more or less, given up using foundation except for starter strips, having found from examining natural honeycomb that there isn't a 'one size fits all',  as not only do the bees, left to themselves, have a range of cell size across a comb, but, with the combs the 'warm way', they have different measurements front to back in the hive.  Generally the range is between 4.9 and 5.4mm with 5.2 being average. 

Scientists will say that this is anecdote rather than science as it was conducted on a small scale with no controls, but my hypothesis is that foundation is one more stress that the bees are better off without! People bandy about the oft-repeated figures about how much honey is consumed to produce a pound of wax, but anybody looking at what falls through a screened floor will have realised that the bees will produce wax anyway, whether it is needed or not.

Chris

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