best foundation

[priver]

this will be my first year with bees....I have 3 hives ready to go and will be getting bees in April...what are the advantages,disadvantages of using real beeswax or the plastic type wax foundations ??

[doak]

If you are going to use package bees I would start with wax. If you do start with plastic make sure you use it all the way in a given hive. I have some mixed. I like the plastic for extracting. I also use some wax foundation with wood frames, make sure to use grooved bottom bars on these. I also have some all plastic frames.  Of course there will be lots of other opinions. After you get started use what ever suits you and your bees the best.

Plastic foundation is hard to clean up after using it for brood unless you have a pressure washer.
Plus the brood foundation should be changed out at least every 2 years.
There will also be controversy on this suggestion. :)doak

Happy new year to you and everyone else.

[TwT]

if you were to get 2 packages and had 2 hives set up, one with wax foundation and the other with plastic, you would see the wax foundation hive would have it drawn out about 4-10 times faster, it may take a hive with plastic sometimes up to 2 years to draw out every frame of plastic, now plastic does last a lot longer and wax moths and SHB don't destroy it like wax but I choose wood & wax because they draw it out so much faster.  now not all wax foundation suppliers are equal, The best wax foundation I have found is from Walter T Kelly, their wax is thicker than the others.

[Bee-Bop]

I ACTUALLY run 600 frames of Man-Lake solid plastic medium frames, I find they are drawn out just as fast as wax frames if  all the hive frames are plastic.

I find that if plastic and wood solid wax frames are combined they will start on the solid wax frames then move on to the plastic, with no delay.

A solid plastic hive and a solid wax hive will fill about the same time one way or the other, this info is from working with up to 12 hives.

Of course like I say, I'm a small beekeeper not like many of the experts around.

Bee-Bop

[TwT]

I ran hive's using just pierco one piece frames and foundation, I had a frame or 2 in every hive body that was 2 years old and not drawn out, I dont know what kind of plastic mann-lakes sells (maybe there are better for bee's to draw out) but when it come to comparing wax to pierco it isn't even a contest, wax is way faster.

[D Coates]

I have used Perco for 4 years (going into my 5th now) with good success.  If you mix them with drawn foundation the bees will do their best to avoid them and draw the drawn frame seven deeper.  However, once they've started drawing on the plastic foundation it works fine.  If necessary I'll rotate lesser drawn outer frames (10 frame equipment) to the center of the hive to ensure they get completely drawn.  A good flow makes all the difference in the world too.  I do comb honey so I have some limited experience with pure wax foundation.  From my experiences drawing out wise it's 6 of one 1/2 dozen another.  The plastic for me is faster for the beek, idiot resistant (nothing is idiot proof) and more durable.  With this being said, I haven't recycled any frames frames yet though.

[bigbearomaha]

I personally don't plan on using foundation at all.  However, the old boy  I used to help only used wax foundation.  He had made his own foundation press and would use his own wax to make new foundation from.

He was not a big fan of plastic.

I'm just not a big fan of foundation.

Big Bear

[Michael Bush]

I have had issues with some of the plastic getting accepted, but the PF100 series (PF100 are deep and PF120 are medium) from Mann Lake have been accepted and drawn out perfectly with no problems.  As a bonus, they are 4.95mm cell size...

[PeeVee]

I went to a class at Better Bee last March. If I remember correctly  :roll: the suggestion there was to dip the plastic frame/foundation in HFCS. Let drip briefly and insert into hive body. I went with the wax foundation as I'm not a fan of HFCS. I plan on expanding my limited apiary with foundationless in the Spring.