Foundationless Success Poll

[usaairforceeod]

There is a lot of talk on this site about foundationless and its pros and cons. I am wondering how many beekeepers who have actually tried this method have had successful results and how many have had negative results. Thanks for taking to time to respond!

[Daddy'sBees]

I like it. It works for me and the girls.

[usaairforceeod]

Don't forget to vote on the actual poll Daddy'sBees!

[Humanbeeing]

Out of ten double deep hives, plus supers, I've only had 2 or 3 badly drawn combs. One was started to the side of the guide, when all the others were perfect. I don't know what went wrong there. A couple others were off just enough to make a slight mess. I just ran a knife along the bottoms and pushed them over to the center of the bottom bar. I keep my hives as close to perfectly level as possible. I think that is key. All in all, it works good for me.

[Tia]

As I cull my old comb, I am replacing it with foundationless. It's working out beautifully. I just extracted the other day from 2-yr-old foundationless comb--not wires, no support brads--and it help up just perfectly in the extractor.

[bluegrass]

I started going foundationless 4 years ago. I have had no problems with it. I don't necessarily have any evidence that it is better for the bees, but it is better for my wallet.

[downhome]

Saves a ton of money. I've only had 3-4 that were minimally crossed combed, but one of those was unfixable. I just moved it to the outside waited until it was full of honey, then pulled it, and put in new empty frames. Really not a problem. When you factor in $40 per hive in foundation times however many hives you have, it's a no brainer.

[Joseph Clemens]

I still use combinations of; PF120's, and foundationless. Sometimes the foundationless can be mostly drone comb, but since I raise queens I can either use them for drone production, honey production, or just cut them out to be redone, it isn't much of an issue. I've only rarely had a comb built slightly less than straight, again, not an issue. Certainly save me from spending money buying pesticide contaminated beeswax foundation.

I like to think that I'm avoiding having an excess of pesticide contaminated beeswax in my hives and that this might make a positive difference.

[StevenG]

When I opened up a couple of my hives and the boxes were a mess, I swore never again. Then I found some nicely drawn, and thought, this isn't so bad. Then i found a brood box with 10 frames of DRONE comb... sigh... "never again" and yet.... so I'm modifying management, and will try again this year. Sometimes I think if I could just fire existing management, and hire someone with a strong back, lots of time and energy, I'd be ahead of the game.
Regards,
Steven

[jdpro5010]

I love it and have had very little problems. I only use it for my brood chambers (deeps). I use plastic in my honey supers. I started going foundationless to avoid unknown chemicals and amounts in the foundation we buy. It also fits well into my budget.

[AR Beekeeper]

I have had no success going foundationless using swarms. I have had some success feeding in 1 or 2 frames at a time between frames of worker brood in established colonies. The results have never approached the quality worker comb I get using Pierco foundations.

[USCBeeMan]

I like it. Works great as long as you are not going 9 in 10 or 7 in 8.

Some bees jump on it quick, others take longer. I have some that will jump on foundationless before anything else.

[usaairforceeod]

Come on everyone! 450 views and only 30 votes? Let us know what you think. Thanks to those that have already voted

[bluegrass]

Come on everyone! 450 views and only 30 votes? Let us know what you think. Thanks to those that have already voted

Sounds about right; most people have never tried foundationless.

[scdw43]

Bees in nucs don't need drones so they don't draw drone comb. Place them between two straight drawn combs.

[rkereid]

I use a lot of PF120 plastic frames, too. It is 4.95 cell size. I do feed in a fair amount of foundationless. Much of it is drawn as drone comb. I think that is because they already have so much brood size cells with the PF120s, they want to then draw the drone size. I have tried feeding in foundationless in the broodnest. It is more likely to be drawn as brood cells if there is a good flow on. Otherwise they usually draw it straight.