[jwithington]

I am about to start preping for the up coming summer and putting frames together and wiring them and all those mid winter day activites. And i hve a question about foundation sheets. i use fulld epth frames and normally insert a full sheet of foundation into a frame. However I know of people that use maybe a third of a sheet as a sort of starter for the frame.

Apart from the cost saving of using one sheet for three frames, is there any other advantages/disadvantages of doing this. I appreciate that the bees will need a lot more sugar syrup or honey to enable a massive wax production to draw out the frames.

Any thoughts please.

 

[crofter]

The foundation is a small percentage of the total wax that makes up a whole frame so whether they build all or part makes little difference in the energy consumed. You usually will virtually all worker foundation if you put in a whole sheet of that foundation. If you leave part of the space to their discretion you will get more drone cells built than you may desire. Their are many posts about the pro's and con's of allowing the bees to make all the drone cells they wish.

It sounds like you are doing cross wired wax foundation. I would suggest you not install and embed the foundation till very near the time you will put the bees on it. If it sees cold storage the wires will sometimes come loose. Probably that is no concern with your climate though. Another thing is the wax tends to lose its nice fresh aroma and you may have mice, bugs and other beasties that may damage. Also the wired frames should be stored wax vertical or it will sag between wires if stored flat. Building the frames and wiring is the biggest part of the chore and can be done ahead.

 

[Knisely]

jwithington:

Did you see this thread? This may be something you want to try.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/sho...sheet-of-foundation-in-deep-frames-experiment

 

[Michael Bush]

Put a wood comb guide on and quit using foundation all together...