# Plastic honeycomb?



## homemaker (Apr 8, 2016)

I bought 2 new hives and to my surprise they were filled with plastic honeycomb. I have had hives before, but they didn't have this. Is this a new thing I don't know about or is this an old bad thing?


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## COWS (Dec 23, 2012)

Some foundation is or was sold with plastic under was foundation. Purpose is to make stronger combs for the extractor and to save the labor of installing wire. Looks like that is a sheet that the wax worms ate the wax off of. I would take it out and start over with new foundation, but I have never tried to see if the bees will draw out comb on top of that.

COWS


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## txsteele (Nov 19, 2014)

All my frames are like that but wax coated. The girls draw it out just fine.


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## marusempai (Sep 16, 2007)

I love plastic foundation! Brush a little beeswax on it and the bees will draw it right out. They don't like naked plastic but once you put a little wax on there they like it just fine. Easy to install and hard to break, that's my favorite kind of anything.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

I've noticed much more swarming and colony collapse from plastic foundation. It's not natural. A study by Harvard showed that plastic foundation when heated to 98 degrees emitted fumes that were detrimental and irritating to the bees. I've tried them and the bees did not like them. The hives grew slower and swarmed at s higher rate. So I went back to wax and haven't had a swarm in 3 years.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Kare won a complete hive with bees and plastic foundation. In 10days the bees had not ever started drawing it out. I removed it and put in real bees wax foundation which they drew 10 frames in 10 days.
My plan was to take the plastic foundation to the next Oakland bee meeting and donate it as a door prize as was the custom there. 

I got a swarm call and had no foundation in frames or drawn comb for it so I grabbed that plastic stuff.

After 45 days this is the best frame of the 6 they worked on.



Most looked like this at 45 days and stayed that way till I pulled it out at 60 days.








No Plastic foundation is nothing new., Not sure when it was first released for sale. Was getting poplar with new bee keepers in my area about 2001 because we had a Dadnant supply store near by that was pushing it.

I am not crazy about the time it takes to set down and wire frames and install the real wax foundation but I refuse to take any plastic foundation when we do a trade of empty nuc's for full ones to cut cost.

 Al


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I could not get my girl's to do anything with plastic. They left the hive so not to deal with plastic


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## Steve in PA (Nov 25, 2011)

I picked up plastic foundation for the first time last week and installed a few frames after giving a coat of wax. The girls are drawing it out just as good as the wax foundation. They showed no interest at all in the foundationless frame which was replaced by the plastic frame after 2+ weeks.

I am feeding heavily with 1:1 so maybe that's why they are drawing it.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Mine are drawing out plastic foundation, but not in a smooth and predictable pattern. And I am also feeding plenty of heavy syrup.


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## bobp (Mar 4, 2014)

Is your Plastic foundation pre waxed? I haven't had any trouble with it... and My sons Mentor has 250+ hives with all types...... he will tell you upfront he prefers the black plastic....


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## Agriculture (Jun 8, 2015)

I've used the plastic with no problems either. Those of you who are, are you sure that it is wax coated? It is such a time and work saver that I will never go back to wax. I especially like the one piece units, frame and foundation all in one. They're new, if you consider over 20 years or so to be new.


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## cotton45c (Jun 23, 2014)

plastic foundation is all i have used in the last 20 or years, reckon i need to go tell the girls we be doing it all wrong.


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## tom j (Apr 3, 2009)

I bought a few waxed plastic ,, the girls would not do any thing with it ,, rewaxed it nothing ,, will not use it as they never filled out one plastic no mater what I did with it


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## Steve in PA (Nov 25, 2011)

This is a frame of plastic foundation I added. I think it's been in there less than 2 weeks, but I'd have to check my receipt. I'd say they are OK with it.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Of course plastic will work as long as that is all they have. But set a pair of 10 frame deeps up a hive cover apart and install a 3 pound package from the same supplier in each. The bees in the deep with the real wax foundation will get drawn and filled a good week ahead of the plastic stuff. 

 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

If the plastic has come off, is there a good way to re=coat it? 

I was out of the beekeeping game for a while, and the old plastic frames with the wax coating are no longer wax coated. While I did have a FEW old frames, the bees will be wanting more any time now and I am down to the frames with bare plastic. it would be a good thing if I could re-coat these bare plastic ones. 

The only bees wax that I have is the wax the bees are using now, unfortunately.


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## Steve in PA (Nov 25, 2011)

alleyyooper said:


> Of course plastic will work as long as that is all they have. But set a pair of 10 frame deeps up a hive cover apart and install a 3 pound package from the same supplier in each. The bees in the deep with the real wax foundation will get drawn and filled a good week ahead of the plastic stuff.
> 
> Al


A frame of wax foundation in the same hive that his been in there since April 16th, roughly 2 weeks longer than the other one. I'm not stirring up anything other than to say that this hive has no problem with plastic, didn't like foundationless, and seems to be meh on wax. I don't have enough experience to make across-the-board assumptions. 

This is the outside frame but the plastic one I posted earlier is the second frame in and right next to it. I know they don't generally buildup the outside frames but I was surprised at the difference.












Terri said:


> The only bees wax that I have is the wax the bees are using now, unfortunately.


 I used a pound of natural wax from the local craft store that was going out of business. Probably not the best option but that's all I had.


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## thericeguy (Jan 3, 2016)

Newb here. Do you have to supply the wax? I assumed they made it. Or is it just an efficiency thing to supply the material? I am talking about drawing material, not a plastic coated frame.


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

thericeguy said:


> Newb here. Do you have to supply the wax? I assumed they made it. Or is it just an efficiency thing to supply the material? I am talking about drawing material, not a plastic coated frame.


Yes, the bees will make thewax. But, some hives seem to object to plastic foundation and that is all I have left to offer my bees. According to what I have read even bees that dislike plastic will accept wax-coated plastic. So, if my bees avoid the plastic foundation I put in then I would like to be able to coat the plastic. 

Once the bees accept the foundation, then they will work hard on building honeycomb, storing honey and raising brood. If they do NOT like the foundation, they will gather less nectar, raise less brood, and be much less productive.


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