Post by Admin on Mar 25, 2014 19:09:47 GMT 1
When I started beekeeping in August 2013, I was giving the bees frames with foundation, however they were reluctant in drawing new frames. Thus, in order to encourage them, I've used to place a foundation frame in the middle of the colony. That helped, however sometimes were reluctant to build new comb, and when that happened this foundation frame acted like a separator and consequently, I had a queen balling problems that had ultimately killed my queen.
After reading about foundationless - I wanted to try it. At first I have tried it by putting a layer of wax on the top of frame, I thought it would direct the bees, however, after reading further, I learned that that there is no need to put this layer of wax. I've tried it and indeed it worked just fine - actually the comb holds even better to the wooden frame.
Now when I add new frames i dont longer have the fear of separating the colony in case the bees are reluctant to build more comb. Foundationless frames do not act as a barrier. I am noticing that they start drawing comb much faster and the queen start laying in it immediately. Every 5 days, I put a new frame in the middle and in just few days it is full drawn.
This is also saving me money.
Is foundation just a marketing brain-washing idea?
