Priming a foundation so the bees will draw it out

[bannonb]

Hey all:

I've been feed my 2 hives because they weren't drawing any new comb. Now they've drawn comb and have honey and syrup.

My telescoping lid (sittin directly on my internal feeder) had 2 4"X6" combs full of syrup hanging from it. There not many bees on it. It seemed to be a temporary storage location.

If I want to encourage bees to draw out plastic frame, could I take those combs and press some wax into the foundation to get them started on those frames?

BannonB

[westernbeekeeper]

Brush the with melted beeswax, and that will help alot. You could also spray the foundation with sugar syrup.

[bannonb]

I have sprayed them with sugar syrup with little affect. I didn't start seeing building going on until I started dumping 25 lbs of sugar in there (actually just making gallons and gallons of 1:1 syrup).

So, melting the wax from the errant combs I found would make plastic more tolerable. I can see that.

thanks!

[johng]

Brushing the plastic foundation with extra wax will help them out for sure. But, they still will not draw them out unless they need them. By feeding you simulated a honey flow causing the bees a need for more room to store the syrup so they drew out your frames.

[EastSideBuzz]

You are getting them to draw comb in September?