waldig wrote:
>I said bees 'hate' plastic but it's probably more that they
>don't 'see' the cell embossing.  Besides the cell base geometry there
>probably also needs to be wax present for them to 'see' it.

I attended one of Tom Seeley's presentations on this subject. It is a topic
I know a little about, having worked for five years making wax foundation,
up to 1000 pounds a day. 

That was back in the 1970s when Pierce first came out with the one piece
plastic frames/foundations. Over the years I have watched people succeed and
fail with these products. 

In my opinion, the reason bees do better initially with wax foundation is
very simple: there is enough wax in the sheet of foundation for them to
stretch and build the entire comb, especially in the medium and heavy weight
foundation.

For the plastic to be made into combs, they bees have to produce wax, which
they don't do unless there is a decent honey flow underway. After all, the
comb is built to put the honey in. No honey, no need for comb.

The main thing with the plastics is that you get a comb that is practically
indestructible in the honey extractor. That's why large scale commercial
operators love them. The fact that bees are somewhat reluctant to draw them
means: don't put them on unless you have a honey flow.

In the old days beekeepers looked at a warehouse full of drawn comb as one
of their chief assets. Now, with all the talk of CCD and the notion that
combs may harbor viruses or pesticide residues, all those old combs aren't
looking so good. 

pb
Maybe the pendulum will swing the other way and more people will use wax
foundation again. There are a lot of benefits to doing so. Really the only
drawback I can see is how tender they are at first.

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