Plastic foundation is only readily accepted by the bees if it has a wax coating. I buy my foundation direct from the manufacturer, without out wax and coat it myself. Here's how.
As a hobbyist beekeeper I looked at my stacks of boxes and frames this winter and I thought to myself I really overdid it. After finding swarm cells in all my hives and doing splits now I am worried I will run out. Beekeeping takes a lot of equipment and space to store it all. Thanks for the video Phil.
I use a roller to apply my wax, however, the edges at the sides of the frames don't seem to get coated and so I paint those areas with a foam brush, I can see that dipping them will use more wax but they will be well coated , and as you said, any wax that we don't put on has to be made and then built up by the bees. I will have a go at dipping some foundation for a super and try and find two colonies that are similar and apply one new super of rollered foundation and one of dipped and see how they go one. I have tried the wax foundation on the wires but I don't know where that wax has come from and so I stopped using it.
ya can achieve the same thing with a cradle made from a coat hanger.(2) dip horizontal, hangers at each end, hangers bent with needle nose for spacing in-between foundations kinda like a 8-9 frame spacer but smaller rise with the needle nose.
@@philbeeman yeah I figured that. At 17k sheets I expect you got a good price. I'm expanding over the next several years, I need 6000 for next year alone. Price is always increasing at $1.30 now, won't hurt to stock up. I looked at Multi Sweet Group and they look similar to Ritecell. I just wanted to deal with a company that someone over here(Canada) can confirm they have a good product, if you don't mind. Thanks
@@sidelinerbeekeeper Talk to Eva { eva@honeybeetek.com ) or Penny ( penny@chinabeehealthy.com ) I've got a load from each of them which arrived on time and as ordered. However it is pretty nerve wracking to send $ upfront. Make sure your bank transfers are in order or you'll never see your $ again.
How many frames of brood do you want in each hive month away from the flow. Been going thru mine i went with 3 frames of brood im like 5 weeks out i figure.
I made splits at 3 frames of brood up until last week. If we make any more splits it would need to be 4 now. we are almost exactly 6 weeks from onset of major flow.
