I have plastic frames. When they come they are coated with wax. Because it is hot where I store them, the wax melts off. Do I have to recoat the frames with wax?
I would , mine didnt melt of but I had to put more wax on so the bees would except them. there are still a couple of frames , and i have no idea why, that the bees still wont work on
Do you just dip them in bees wax, or brush it on. Whats the best was to do this ?
if i had a vat big enough to dip them I would just dip them, but i do not, so I used one of those foam paint brushes, others have used the foam rollers with success.
I have a few of them that I ordered prior to deciding to try some foundationless and small cell and my bees drew them out as is. However, we have a dearth going on here and they arent drawing anything out at all. Not sure whats going on in Hawaii, but that may be the culprit. No flow, no draw :)
For best results I always coat mine with more wax, I use the foam brush as I never had any luck using the roller.
Also if the frames are in the hive for a long period of time without being drawn out I usually pull them and re coat with wax as the bees will clean it off to use elsewhere, this happens most often on the outside frames.
with that in mind that the bees will clean a frame off and use the wax else where, would it be a good idea just to leave a clump of wax down in the hive, so the bees can get to it when needed?
Before I went to foundationless (I still do use a couple of black pierco frames in hives I'd like to graft from...easier to see eggs) I would use the 4" foam rollers to wax the foundation. Even if they're "pre-waxed" I'd wax 'em again as the sprayed on wax from suppliers is too thin to be effective.
That said, I'll be helping a friend (S&S Apiaries) wax 5,000 plasti-cel foundations this weekend. I've got 50 lbs of wax in a turkey fryer to dip in. The trick is to heat the wax to where it's quite "loose" as to get a thin coat without plugging up the cell pattern. Simply dip and shake off excess, place in a rack that holds 30 foundations with a fan blowing on it. By the time you're on #30 the first 10 are cool and dry.
We mix a pound or two of honey in with the melted wax to encourage the bees to start working the frames...works great!
Scott
I seen a post on here where a person just rub wax on a plastic foundation and the bees pulled the cells out only where he rub the wax. I had a bunch of new pierco that i got from a old bee keeper so I took a supper of med pierco's and i rub them all over with some wax that i got from a cut out. In one week they pulled them out, I also spayed sugar water and Honey B Healthy. To be sure you need a flow or feed them but just rubbing wax all over them will work.