So, I am admittedly a newbie. I have put together my hive, both brooder and super. The frames for the brooder have nothing on the inside. Should it? Is there a prevailing thought on this?Uploading…
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Or, are most people going foundationless? What about the need to move the frame or entire hive?
Chao Minh,
Many are going foundationless with the Flow-system but not all … Some are just using a starter strip … Personally I could have gone either of these ways too but chose to do wired wax in one of my hives n plastic foundation in the other two brand new hives.
I just did my first 3rd day hive inspection on this Monday. I found at least my colony is accepting n using both the wax n plastic foundation frames nearly equally. Maybe someday when I have interest n time I might try foundationless. At present with getting my Nuc’s (5 frames) that are a mix of wax n plastic foundation I didn’t see the advantage at the moment.
If I am lucky enough to catch a free swarm this season I might order a set of foundationless frames to try. New foundationless wax n comb is artistic beautiful. Thus I’d love to get pic’s n try my luck at it someday but not this first return season.
Take care (can than nhe),
Gerald.
Your image may be too large. The pictures I upload have to be resized to be accepted for upload because they come off my phone too large.
Foundationless comb allows the bees to make whatever size cells they want, they can put as much drone comb as they feel that they need and often they build more naturally sized cells. There is standard cell, and small cell foundation with arguments for and against both, so many people just let the bees do what they want. There are also very few clean wax foundations available anymore because of the widespread use of insecticides and chemicals for mite treatments and just generally from the environment. Allowing the bees to make foundationless comb they are using virgin wax that hasn’t had a chance yet to be contaminated.
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Deleted due posted in wrong thread. Seniors moment…again
Hi Minh - I’m also a newbee but have started my hive using the foundationless frames included in the Complete Flow kit. Assuming you also have frames from Flow, then they come with a strip of wood you affix across the underside of the top bar, in a small channel already cut, with wood glue.
The bees will naturally hang from this strip as they work together to build comb in paddle-shaped formations. I modified mine after a sad accident during my first inspection last week, when I failed to check that the comb was attached on at least three sides of the frame before beginning to lift it up. The new comb they build is very very soft and mine just fell right off as I began to lift.
Someone on this forum suggested using bamboo skewers as braces running vertically inside the frames. I did this & will try to post some pics. There’s already a thread How to go Foundationless here, and Michael Bush explains the rationale for doing so exceedingly well on his website. Please excuse my lack of actual links for you! And good
luck with your bees 
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