The bees in my overwintered hive will not draw out the plastic foundation I've given them.
Last year was my first year beekeeping and I made the mistake of stacking my boxes in my garage after they had been on the hives for a brief period and I ended up with a terrible wax moth infestation. I scrubbed the frames, picked out all the wax moth larvae and left the boxes on my porch where the bees eventually found them and cleaned them up. I'm just wondering if the wax moths and the bees stripped the foundation of the wax that was put on at the factory and this is why the bees won't work it.
Although last year, before the infestation, they didn't do anything to the foundation either. I attributed this to the hives being new. I've ordered new foundation from Mann-Lake and plan to replace the foundation in the frames as soon as it arrives but I'm at a loss at what to do and I'm losing precious honey production not to mention the threat of swarming.
Any ideas as to what might be going on?
Last year was my first year beekeeping and I made the mistake of stacking my boxes in my garage after they had been on the hives for a brief period and I ended up with a terrible wax moth infestation. I scrubbed the frames, picked out all the wax moth larvae and left the boxes on my porch where the bees eventually found them and cleaned them up. I'm just wondering if the wax moths and the bees stripped the foundation of the wax that was put on at the factory and this is why the bees won't work it.
Although last year, before the infestation, they didn't do anything to the foundation either. I attributed this to the hives being new. I've ordered new foundation from Mann-Lake and plan to replace the foundation in the frames as soon as it arrives but I'm at a loss at what to do and I'm losing precious honey production not to mention the threat of swarming.
Any ideas as to what might be going on?