Help, wire wasn't embedded in wax

[SurprisingWoman]

I got my bees today.  I ended up putting them where they will get quite a bit of sun but will be shaded in the evening, I think.

My friend is the one that offered to help get me started in bees.  He bought 4 lbs of Italian bees and brought them and the hive over this morning.

He told me that wax would be the best foundation for my hive since I am not going to use an extractor.  I am good with that decision.

When he got here he had not put the foundation on the frames yet.  The frames have the horizontal wires on them and there are no wires in the cut wax foundation.

When he got here he put the wax on the frames by weaving the wax in and out of the wires and putting the wax in the groove.

When we were dumping the bees into the hive the wax came off of two of the frames.  We rewaxed them with two new sheets and closed up the hive.

I was unfamiliar with this process and so I came in to see if there was a better way to do the wax to the frame and I have discovered that the wires should have been embedded into the frame or the wax will slide out of the frames, which is what is probably happening.

He won't be back for a week or so and to be honest I am not sure he knows what he is doing.

What should I do?  Should I go buy an embedder tomorrow and take out one frame at a time and embed the wire myself?  I don't want my bees to leave but I can't even imagine what a mess it is in their hive.  I can probably do all the frames if I take them out one at a time.  I have two boxes with ten frames each.

Please help me.  I am so upset.  This is just really disheartening.

[Kathyp]

i think i'd be tempted to just pull that foundation out and let them build their own. if the foundation was well attached at the top, cut it about 1 inch below the top bar and leave that inch as a guide for the bees.  if it was not attached, i'd just pull it all and give them empty frames. 

what he did might work, but if they don't get it attached well, it will sag and you'll have a mess.  it's up to you.  you can wait and see what they do.

the one box you have is going to be your brood box.  you are going to need more.  you'll want to start thinking about ordering or finding more so that the bees can expand.  you won't be taking any honey from that box.

[iddee]

>>>>Should I go buy an embedder tomorrow and take out one frame at a time and embed the wire myself? <<<<

Yes... The sooner the better. All the wires don't have to be embedded, and each doesn't have to be all the way across, so don't spend a lot of time on each. Get it embedded the best you can quickly, but all it needs is enough to hold the wax in the frames straight.

If you do it Kathy's way, be sure to check them daily, or nearly daily, to be sure they are keeping in line with the frames. You will have to cut out any comb that they build across frames.

[Jim134]

You may get some help at Utah Beekeepers Association
Utah Beekeepers Association Directors Contact Information
Hope this will help you

   http://www.utahbeekeepers.org/Other%20Files/UBA%20NL%20V3%20I1%20November%202009.pdf



  BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

[SurprisingWoman]

Thanks guys.  I will be making an early morning run to Jones Bees tomorrow.

I appreciate the help.

Brenda

[Michael Bush]

It all depends on how quickly the bees start working it and how thin the wax is.  Certainly wax foundation can cause as many problems as plastic or no foundation does.  They just all do it for different reasons.  In the case of wax the most likely cause of problems is sagging or falling foundaion (hence the inevention of using wires) while with plastic it's the bees' dislike of the plastic and with foundationless it's that if one gets off the rest tend to repeat the problem.  You take your choices.  But certainly if the wires are embedded (and not everyone embedds them) it will hold up the wax better.  Check in a few days and see if any buckled or nor.  If so, replace immediately.

[SurprisingWoman]

Okay, so my friend brought over 10 more frames and I had a box.  I called my bee supply store and they are closed on Monday!  ARggh

I did some research and decided the best way for me to embed the wire would be to put the frame on a couple of plastic VCR tapes boxes to elevate the middle, put a new wax sheet in the groove on the top of the frame.  Then I laid the wax sheet, with the wires up, across the plastic vcr boxes.  Then I heated the wax with a blow dryer and pressed the wires into the wax with a screwdriver.  Then I would pick up the frame and make sure it was smooth and the wire was embedded by pushing lightly with my fingers.  Then I let it cool while I did the next one.

It seemed to work so well I don't know if I will ever buy an embedding tool or not. This seemed to work well.

Now, if I didn't lose my queen with all of my box swapping I should be good to go.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. 

[iddee]

WOMEN... Add the hair dryer to the bobby pin and butter knife, and she has a complete toolbox.  :-D   :-D   :-D

Good job.

[Hethen57]

Great idea for imbedding foundation, thanks for sharing....I'm going to try that with my heat gun next time.

[SurprisingWoman]

A heat gun might be too much.  It only took a few seconds with the hair dryer on high.  A couple of times I probably got the wax too warm.  I don't have a heat gun though so they may have more range than I am aware of.

[Hethen57]

It has a high and a low, so I think it would work....I just can't leave it on the wires too long or it will just slice the foundation, instead of imbedding...it is definately worth a try.  I usually use a spur wheel embedder, but would like to melt the wires in if possible.

[deknow]

embedding the wire is one thing...but more important (especially with a new package where the bees will be hanging on the top of the foundation) is to secure the foundation to the top bar.  either with a cleat (wedge top bar) or by melting wax into the groove.  no matter how well the wires are embedded (and the hair dryer method is perfectly legit), if the top of the foundation flops out, you wll have a mess.

deknow