Frame/Foundation Problem

[Big_Beard]

Hello all â€" so I’m new to this and decided to buy two hives to learn this summer;
thus I have a newbie question with respect to frames and foundation:

1- The cheapest route seems to be to buy wooden frames and wired wax
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=51&txtProdID=64
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=54&txtProdID=272

But I don’t understand how these are assembled â€" do I have to ‘wire’ the wired wax foundations onto the frame and then use an electrical current to embed the wired wax foundation into the frame wires?

2- If I use a plastic foundation (such as permadent or pierco) in a wooden frame â€" do these really just ‘snap in’ or do they also need to be secured to the frame by wires?
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=51&txtProdID=60
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=51&txtProdID=61#

3-  finally with these plastic foundations â€" are they already ‘waxed’? In other words do I have to coat them with beeswax before I put them into the frames?

I am considering just ordering these to save myself the hassle since I am only trying two hives.
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=51&txtProdID=65

Sorry for all the newbie questions, but I would really appreciate the help. The books I have been reading don’t really go through hive construction in this sort of detail â€" I only thought of these issues when deciding what to order.

[Finsky]

You are really at the beginning. It best way to rearch an older beekeeper and go to follow his work. It saves you pain and money a lot.

It is very difficult to start with your own. I started 45 yeas ago with book which I got from library. I made first hives "long horisoltal"  and then I burned them 2 years later.  Now "long horisontal" is best fashion  and Langstroth is out:P

[randydrivesabus]

the wooden frames need to be assembled with nails and glue. the nails and instructions are usually included with the frames.
the foundation is prewired. the frame instructions tell you how to assemble these into the frames.
i dont know anything about the plastic stuff.

[Michael Bush]

>1- The cheapest route seems to be to buy wooden frames and wired wax
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=51&txtProdID=64
http://www.beemaidbeestore.com/product.php?txtCatID=54&txtProdID=272

My main reason for frames an wired wax is to get the right cell size.  4.9mm is only available in wax and can be aquired in wired wax now:

http://www.dadant.com/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?osCsid=48a803b7d9c6ce9a500c4888cafcf481&search_in_description=1&keywords=small+cell&osCsid=48a803b7d9c6ce9a500c4888cafcf481&x=0&y=0

>But I don’t understand how these are assembled â€" do I have to ‘wire’ the wired wax foundations onto the frame and then use an electrical current to embed the wired wax foundation into the frame wires?

If they are already wired, you can just put them in the frames.  If you have a wedge frame you nail the wedge to hold it in.  If you have a grooved frame, you run melted wax in the groove to hold it in.

>2- If I use a plastic foundation (such as permadent or pierco) in a wooden frame â€" do these really just ‘snap in’ or do they also need to be secured to the frame by wires?

They just snap in.  I have tons of the RiteCell, but I'm not using it because it's 5.4mm cell size, and, IMO, that causes Varroa problems.

>3- finally with these plastic foundations â€" are they already ‘waxed’?

Some are and some aren't.  You can buy them both ways.

There are many issues that are easy to change later and many that are an investment in the future because they are difficult to change.  Here's my advice:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnewbees.htm

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm

The two big things that are hard to change are frame size/box size and cell size.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeseightframemedium.htm

The frame is the basic element of a modern bee hive. Even if you have various sized boxes (as far as the number of frames they hold) if the frames are all the same depth you can put them in any of your boxes.

Having a uniform frame size has simplified my life. If all your frames are the same size you have a lot of advantages.

You can put anything currently in the hive anywhere else it's needed.

For instance:

1) You can put brood up a box to "bait" the bees up. This is useful without an excluder (I don't use excluders) but it's especially useful if you really want to use an excluder. A couple of frames of brood above the excluder (leaving the queen and the rest of the brood below) really motivates the bees to cross the excluder and start working the next box above it.

2) You can put honey combs in for food wherever you need it. I like this for making sure nucs don't starve without the robbing that feeding often starts, or bulking up the stores of a light hive in the fall.

3) You can unclog a brood nest by moving pollen or honey up a box or even a few frames of brood up a box to make room in the brood nest to prevent swarming. If you don't have all the same size, where will you put these frames?

4) You can run an unlimited brood nest with no excluder and if there is brood anywhere you can move it anywhere else. You're not stuck with a bunch of brood in a medium that you can't move down to your deep brood chamber. The advantage of the unlimited brood nest is the queen isn't limited to one or two brood boxes, but can be laying in three or four. Probably not four deeps, but probably in four mediums.

The other issue is weight.  A ten frame medium full of honey weighs 60 pounds.  A ten frame deep full of honey weighs 90 pounds.  An eight frame medium weigs 48 pounds.  I cut all my deeps down to mediums and all my ten frame boxes to eight.  I wish I'd bought all eight frame mediums to start with.

[Hi-Tech]

I have been using the plastic, wax coated foundation and it does just snap into the frame. I have discovered though that if you spray them with sugar water the bees start building on them quicker.