which is better

[swarm_trapper]

hi guys when i use plain wax foundation which is beter for support. support pins or wire

[Clayton]

I prefer wire myself. Having found it to be more reliable. Others seem to like the pins. I should say that wiring has been the standard method for wax foundation for along time.....time tested. The choice is yours though.

[Michael Bush]

The wire will provide more support. The pins are easier to use. Some of this is also what size frames you use for foundation. A deep needs wire if you are going to extract it ever. It needs wire if it doesn't get drawn out quickly. I always wire deep foundation. I usually just do an "X". But I don't plan on extracting it.

In mediums and shallows I've used just pins and I've even extracted it, gently, but if you want to extract it more than once, I'd use wire.

Wire serves three purposes. One is to hold the foundation from warping before the bees draw it. Another is to support it for extraction. Another is to support it so it doesn't sag in the heat. When I use DuraComb I just use split pins because although it's wax on the outside, it has a plastic sheet in the middle and doesn't need wire.

[greenbeekeeping]

Hi there. I use wire on all of my frames. Just what I was taught to use and It has worked good for me.

[Dave W]

Greetings swarm trapper,

I have used both pin and wire. Pins were hard to insert without cutting a groove in foundation (no support). Foundation would bulge from the force of the pins squeezing their way into the edge of wax.

All my deep frames, and the shallows I plan to extract, have horizontal wires.

To embed wires, I tried using a transformer to heat wire. When the wire got hot, it would expand (stretch) and loosen in the frame. After burning up two transformers, I used a hair-dryer to soften wax then pushed the wire into the wax w/ a screw-driver. Not very high tech, but it did a fine job.

------------------
Dave W . . .

A NewBEE with 1 hive.
First package installed
April, 2003.

[loggermike]

I use wired foundation,and wire the frames too.Even with all that support a few new combs will still blow out in the extractor.Dont even consider using pins.