Adding foundationless frames to existing brood super

Beekeeping - Basics
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Hubby like cut comb so my first order is his

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Hi Marty, this is my video with starter strips & fishing line. cheers

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Hi Taryn, I use all wax foundation, thatā€™s my personal choice. Itā€™s worth remembering that by going foundationless as opposed to foundation, the only thing the bees have extra to build by going foundationless is the bases of the cells. If you take the surface area of the bases compared to the surface area of the hexagon walls, the bases are only a small fraction of the total area. What Iā€™m saying is: The bees donā€™t use all that much more honey building foundationless as they do by starting on foundation.

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JeffH, Thank YOU so much, That is just want I was asking and would like to do. Being new, I know I would likely rotate the frame a bit tomuch inspecting it and just donā€™t want it to break off. This would help provent that I hope

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Hi & your most welcome Marty. There was a part of the frame where the bees didnā€™t build comb through the fishing line, therefore the queen recognized the fishing line as a foreign object & avoided laying eggs there first time around but on the second or third time, she probably will because the bees will have covered it up, thatā€™s my guess. You often see the line of wire on wax foundation frames where the queen didnā€™t lay eggs the first time, but after that, she lays in them all.

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The expense of making wax:

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This is great, booked marked it. Just what I was looking for and all the idea of habits makes since for old beekeepers and new beeeeeā€™s :smile:

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yeah thatā€™s a good point. Also it means that we get to influence cell-size a bit more (though the bees will build drone comb when they choose, of course).

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I have pretty much read Michaelā€™s site from front to back. It is amazingly comprehensive.

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Always enjoy your informative videos @JeffH

Love your accent too!

Cheers, Paul

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Hi Paul, thank you mate:)

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Very interesting argument for going foundation free, especially with swarms and with good nectar flow. I installed a large swarm into a single FLOW Brood box and it was suggested that I add wax foundation to existing 8 frame. I pulled one frame as all 7 others looked bee busy and I plan to try to modify some wax and fishing line for experimentation. But after reading this I think maybe I would have skipped the idea.

I may try adding fishing wire reinforcement n the medium brood box I am planning to add.

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Marty,
I am looking at foundationless frames with or without wire. I am a first year beek and unfortunately (or fortunately)am not a rocket scientist and would rather get info from those who have ā€œbeen there, done thatā€ then those that have ā€œread about itā€ So if you do not mind offering some assistance - What did you end up doing, did it work and would you recommend your method? I am building a long hive and will be using flow frames in super
cheers
Jeff

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Okay I wanted to go all foundation less. In general I like the idea, what a mess. Especially for a new beekeeper.

I highly would suggest going to every other one being foundation less. I personally at this time think that may be the best alternative. Having the plastic wax coated foundation intermediate the foundation less will give the girls the opportunity to build the foundation less more straight. I spent a lot of time cutting out comb with brood in it where they did not build it straight and it made it a mess later if you did not keep it clean. Being a new beekeeper this was a little intimidating.

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Jeff has an accent? Kidding?