[Gus979]

Is there any advantage to using white plastic foundation? I've always used black because it makes finding eggs so much easier that I wonder why people ever buy anything but black plastic foundation when they use plastic. But I still see videos of beekeepers using white plastic foundation and I'm kind of curious if there was an advantage to it that I have not thought of?

 

[COAL REAPER]

you got the black figured out. white lets you see the shade of honey. also black warps a bit easier if you happen to leave plastic FRAMES out in the sun.

 

[little_john]

I've always used black because it makes finding eggs so much easier [...]

Does it ? I'm not so sure ...

My only experience with black plastic foundation has been in making-up some experimental 'timing frames' - but I couldn't source black in the UK, so ended up buying yellow and spraying it matt black.

My preference for examining eggs/young larvae is newly-drawn white wax comb, where I find side-lighting through the cell walls and septum helps enormously. Such side-lighting is significantly reduced with black foundation, and I find the worst candidate of all to be old black wax comb, where I end up peering down a pitch black tube of a cell. To view anything at the bottom of such a cell would require the light source to be positioned exactly where my eyes are.

I do use a magnifying glass with it's own directional light source sometimes, which helps - but I much prefer to work without it. So - gimme brand new white wax comb any day.
LJ

 

[Michael Bush]

The other issue is that black leaves no light in the cell. You think it makes eggs easier to see when you have nice white wax on black foundation, but as the cells get full of cocoons and therefore darker, the inside of the cell gets darker. I think it's easier to see them with white on the bottom than black at some point in the middle of this process. Eventually, of course, the entire comb is black anyway, so it's irrelevant at that point.

I seem to end up with some black, but I have never bought it on purpose. The best way to see eggs is to have a flashlight...

 

[Bdfarmer555]

I find the yellow is the worst for seeing brood, and not as good for seeing the color of honey.

My kids like the black best. They can see how much wax they've painted on for me.

 

[AHudd]

I have found that the yellow plastic imparts a pinkish tint to the grubs until it darkens.

Alex

 

[psm1212]

I like black. I buy all black foundation. As for the tint of the honey, I rely on timing, not color. I have terrible eyes (6 surgeries on left, 5 on right). Detached retinas, cataracts, you name it. I can see eggs easier and can judge age of larva better with new wax against a black foundation. As Michael Bush points out above, eventually this "advantage" disappears (maybe even has some momentary disadvantage), but I just look for the new wax against the black plastic when selecting graphs or determining queen rightness. I have no hope of seeing anything else truthfully.