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What are your thoughts these days?

9K views 38 replies 16 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
#33 ·
>Out of curiosity, does anyone know if this is simiar to Brushy's plastic snap-in foundation or more like Dadant's plasticell?

>Can anyone please describe this product accurately?

It does not resemble any plastic foundation I've seen before. The quality is superb. The best description is that it is embossed just like embossed foundation. Crsip clear "Y" in the bottom of the cells. Crips clear cell walls. It is wax coated.

PlastiCell has flat bottoms in the cells.

I think Brushy Mt just sells Peirco (that's what they sent me last) and it has a vague "Y" shape in the bottom but is not very distinct.

The cell walls on PlastiCell are deeper than the Dadant 4.9mm plastic. As I said, the 4.9 plastic looks just like wax foundation except it's plastic with a wax coat. You know how embossed wax goes in and out? I don't know how to describe it exactly, but that's what the 4.9mm plastic looks like. It is NOT a flat peice of plastic with some cell walls on it, it is very three dimentional.
 
#34 ·
>The plates would be a cost. So maybe a little more cost. But why such the large difference with the small cell and the regular size plasticell? Yea, and I know all about the "first VCR" cost and how they come down. Don't see the comparision here. Just gouging.

I think it's more complicated. Dadant doesn't make the foundation. They just sell it. I think there are some patents etc. involved.

Still, the 4.9mm WAX is over a dollar a sheet. That's a lot even for "clean" wax.

Of course the other argument is that we are lucky anyone wants to bother with something that is such a small market right now.
 
#35 ·
I know the manufacturers are from Asia so there is probably some importing cost passed on.

Also the foundation is probably the strongest and most durable plastic on the market. I know Dee put it to some real hard testing. Cutting, boiling, melting, running over with vehicle, leaving in sun to make sure the suff was quality and would hold up. I know pierco will warp in the sun for certain. I haven't used the plastic but have heard the results from the initial testing from various individuals and it will hold up to solar wax melters, water baths, sunlight, weather, warping, ect.

Even with that said it is a little pricey. But the wax 4.9 is a little too. If you remember dadant was the only one to carry the wax 4.9 the first year. The following year brushy mountain and others picked it up and the price was lower, and one could buy in bulk too. I'm kinda hopeing this will happen here too.
 
#36 ·
I bought three resistant queens from Glenn Apiaries. My sister neglected one given to her, which died; The next I probably killed by chilling it with its workers in its shipment cage, since I didn't have a hive for it to go into yet - I hooked up an aquarium with heater in the hive box the second night, but too late.
The third got about 3 lbs of workers - I gave it to freinds with children that kept them too busy to keep up with the hive. It died too.
As you might suspect, I've done more reading than bee-keeping.

I have an english translation of a german person's records of selecting for resistance among his hives, somewhere around here, unless I gave that to my freinds as well.
I hope soon to give resistant queens a fair shake. Anyone else have luck with Glenn queens?

I.I. seems promising in part, yet the test of flight would seem to sort out better drones. One isolated bee yard would seem very helpful - one could move hives with good resistance, or other good features there
as drone sources, then hatch, release and recover queens from there. (But with that much control, would resistance be superfluous?)

Do you all plan to use Spivak's liquid nitrogen test method, to kill larvae on a brood frame within a measured disc, and see how many are removed within a certain time period? I believe this was used to select parents of the Minnisota hygenic strain, and corelated with foul and chalk brood and trachea mite resistance. It seemed workable, with access to liquid nitrogen (or dry ice as a second choice - liquid nitrogen could be poured out of a common thermos, easing handling.) I think universities have liquid nitrogen; I know they can have dry ice.

Spivak mentioned just killing all larvae within a circle (of a forgotten diameter) with a pin, etc., as a technically simpler, but slower method.

Brian Cady

[This message has been edited by briancady413 (edited December 08, 2003).]
 
#37 ·
Pin pricking probably isnt quite as good as freezing but it is very simple and will do the job after a few generations.

I dont think the HYG test has any correlation to tracheal mite resistance but it can lead to a significant decrease in chalk brood. I think it can have an impact on AFB but it can be hard to get HYG at a high enough level to always reliably combat it in field conditions. HYG is easily acquired and just as easily lost at the high end.
 
#38 ·
Hi Curry & All,

> I'm fortunate to have mite-tolerant bees (Russians + sbb's + 4.9 mm Pierco frames),
>

Does Pierco make 4.9 mm cell size foundation?

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