Foundation or no Foundation wax is the question!

Beekeeping - Basics
2

How long is a piece of string? :wink:

There are pros and cons to each. Michael Bush has a very nice summary of the pros of foundation-less here, and I can’t say it any better than him :smile: :
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfoundationless.htm

The cons of foundation-less are:

  1. You have to monitor the comb carefully and regularly until it is drawn, because bees more often get creative with comb direction when it is foundation-less.
  2. Fresh comb is very fragile - you have to be careful and gentle when inspecting frames. You have to be really careful if you put it in an extractor.

The pros of using foundation include:

  1. You save the bees some energy - wax costs food (honey) to produce, so if they have starter, that is saving them some effort
  2. If it is wired, it is stronger for inspecting, and will more readily survive spinning in an extractor
  3. Bees are less prone to making curvy comb in the hive. But will still do that if they feel like it! :wink:
    The cons:
  4. Unless you make your own, you are using somebody else’s wax, which will probably have chemicals in it, and may have diseases if you are unlucky.
  5. Increases the expense of beekeeping - wired wax foundation for deep frames is about $1.40 per sheet in the US, unless you are buying in bulk

So it is up to you to decide what you want for your bees and from your bees! :slightly_smiling:

There is another thread here that you might find useful. The search function of the Forum will probably turn up even more! :blush:
http://forum.honeyflow.com/t/new-flow-brood-box-no-foundation/4480?u=dawn_sd

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