Making Flat Plastic Foundation

[sampa]

I'd like to experiment making my own plastic foundation. Any ideas on the correct material? What is the best way to coat it with wax?

[Michael Bush]

Unembossed plastic foundation? I don't believe it will work. Maybe if you got a thick enough coating of wax on it. But why? Why not just let the bees build their own comb instead. They will do it faster and there will be no contamination from the wax you put in.

If I were going to try it, I'd dip the plastic in molten wax and try to get a thick coating for the bees to work with. Otherwise I don't believe they will work it at all. My prediction is they will try to build their own combs in between.

[sampa]

Basically, I want to let the bees build their own foundation. But I've been reading about the problems people have with the foundation breaking when you lift it out of the hive, like in a TBH. Putting in flat plastic will let the bees make the cells any size they'd like, but it would still be reinforced with the plastic core. That's my theory anyway.

[Michael Bush]

Give it a try and see what they do. If you want some support (I think just being careful is actually easier) you can put a wire or a metal or wooden rod down the center of the frame vertically. Or even horizontally. I put one on the Dadant deep foudnationless frames I made and it worked well so far.

http://incolor.inetnebr.com/bush/images/DadantDeep1.jpg

[Joseph Clemens]

I do believe that humans, not honeybees make "foundation". Honeybees only build comb, no foundation required.