From: kytl@chevron.com
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2001 17:12:04 -0000
To: BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Shakedowns or Introducing Foundation

To Joel and all interested,
To put my bees on 4.9 foundation, I thought it too stressful to do
two shakedowns in one short season. One three pound package arrived
in April, which I put on frames with top foundation strips. This is
ONE SHAKEDOWN, the shakedown occurring at the package supplier's
yard. The package bees pulled comb from the top strips, with cell
size measuring 5.1 to 5.2 mm.

After five or six weeks I slipped in one full frame of 4.9 foundation
in between brood comb in the bottom box. The bees pulled it nicely,
the cells measuring 4.9. From that time, I put in one or two frames
of 4.9 every week, placing them between brood frames. The frames
that I removed were placed above a queen separator. Keep ten frames
in each box below the queen separator at all times. I didn't do
this, and they drew nice comb hanging from the queen separator! I
labeled the 4.9 frames so I wouldn't get (too) mixed up. In this way
I got the bees to draw 4.9, and I kept the brood in the existing 5.2
comb. The 5.2 comb can be used for honey storage or may be culled,
after the brood has emerged.

You can introduce 4.9 foundation without a shakedown in this way.
One disadvantage is that the beekeeper has to disturb the heart of
the colony weekly to introduce the foundation. I'm sure this is
stressful to the colony, especially if smoke is used. And it is too
time-consuming to work a large number of colonies this way. The
advantage is that you do not lose precious brood in 5.2 comb. You do
not lose the 5.2 drawn comb that the bees worked so hard on.

As Dee indicates, you will want to shake down to remove sick brood or
contaminated comb. To introduce 4.9 foundation, shakedowns are
valuable to the large operator. Shakedowns are valuable in a mild
climate where feeding (natural or artificial) can take place for the
approximately 9 months it would take to do two shakedowns, and have a
large vigorous colony ready to survive the winter and attack next
spring's flora.

Cheers,
Kyle Lewis