Foundation supplier

[OldFarm]

Twiddling my thumbs and working out how much foundation I hope to need this year. Would anyone care to recommend suppliers to use and those to avoid? What do the bees prefer, if given a choice?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Depends how much you need.Been using Maisemores for years - can't fault them, and you get a good discount for bulk, especially if you spend more than £200.00

 

[Somerford]

I'll second Maisemore, although Modern Beekeeping came up trumps last year when I was in urgent need

 

[Angry_Mob]

Simon the Bee Keeper was the cheapest for me for the past two years in a row but when I wanted to get some in November (some pre brexit planning) they had poor stock levels so I ended up buying from Bee Equipment which wasn't that much more when it's on sale as it is now.

Sort of pays to check around, if you need to do up an order somewhere else it might be as cheap to buy from there as you wouldn't be paying the extra shipping anyway.

 

[Hachi]

Simon the Bee Keeper was the cheapest for me for the past two years in a row but when I wanted to get some in November (some pre brexit planning) they had poor stock levels so I ended up buying from Bee Equipment which wasn't that much more when it's on sale as it is now.

Sort of pays to check around, if you need to do up an order somewhere else it might be as cheap to buy from there as you wouldn't be paying the extra shipping anyway.

Found STBK wax needed a fair bit of extra work, trimming to make fit and really long extra wire which when your making circa 400 frames adds considerable to the time it takes. Wax was ok tho. This year I'm trying Maisies and got a very good discount too.

 

[Angry_Mob]

Never needed to trim mine but yes the extra wire length was slightly annoying, eventually I got into a system of folding it around and sandwiching it between the bottom bars which avoided the need for trimming. Even with the 25% discount I reckoned STBK to be cheaper though.

 

[Hachi]

Too late now just waiting for delivery

 

[Erichalfbee]

Never needed to trim mine but yes the extra wire length was slightly annoying, eventually I got into a system of folding it around and sandwiching it between the bottom bars which avoided the need for trimming. Even with the 25% discount I reckoned STBK to be cheaper though.

Where does STB source their wax....do you know by any chance?

 

[Into the lions den]

Ask the right questions when buying foundation.

In the last two weeks I was talking to a company in China about other matters (the subject on the day was getting a pallet of smokers made to my spec) when they (unsolicited) pitched quite hard about their foundation. Claim to supply a large amount in full containers to the UK market via Southampton. Anyone openly offering Chinese foundation out there? They might be over egging their sales pitch, but that they DO do it seems not open to doubt...they even have pictures of BS size foundation...both wired and unwired...to show their work off, including several pallets ready to go.

The prices they quoted are so low (not even close to the price of block wax here) that some may be tempted to go for it and not state provenance whilst selling.
From UK prices I have seen, if this is going on then people are coining it. (like 4 or 5 times ex works price)

Chinese wax foundation sheets...unless you take the very top grades.... supported by a neutral lab's certificate of analysis....are liable to have a proportion of paraffin wax in it, and all manner of chemical contaminants they use on their bees.

Not likely to be the case if the wax is from a reputable provenance.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Where does STB source their wax....do you know by any chance?

Ask the right questions when buying foundation.

Last year I had to buy in during the season from a UK supplier; asked the source: Eastern Europe. Wax looked uniform and yellow but even in the heat shattered regularly, which I've never experienced before. Supplier may tell the customer what they know, but what of the true origin?

 

[Gunner]

I have always been very pleased with the foundation from Peter Kemble at Kemble Bee Supplies. I trade my wax and pay the wiring charge and am always amazed at how much foundation I get. It’s very good quality.

 

[Ian123]

I have always been very pleased with the foundation from Peter Kemble at Kemble Bee Supplies. I trade my wax and pay the wiring charge and am always amazed at how much foundation I get. It’s very good quality.

I had some from a few manufacturers last year with mixed results. As above kbs have been long known for quality.

 

[ericbeaumont]

I have always been very pleased with the foundation from Peter Kemble at Kemble Bee Supplies. I trade my wax and pay the wiring charge and am always amazed at how much foundation I get. It’s very good quality.

Peter Kemble has long had the rep as the supplier of the best you can get in the UK, but my guess is that he does so with old-school principles, unlike other suppliers who import from wherever to make a routine margin and pass on the product to those who only buy the cheapest, and who couldn't care less about other factors.

 

[Into the lions den]

Last year I had to buy in during the season from a UK supplier; asked the source: Eastern Europe. Wax looked uniform and yellow but even in the heat shattered regularly, which I've never experienced before. Supplier may tell the customer what they know, but what of the true origin?

Foundation that shatters especially when cold is often only caused by it being produced by a casting process rather than rolling. Did a trial on some cast foundation (Spanish) a few seasons ago...was quite brittle but never sagged and the bees loved it, but the number of sheets that broke in routing handling prior to the bees working it meant we went with the rolled. A little more expensive.

Our Spanish friend used this machine.... rietsche.de/downloads/va_hq.mp4
apparently at times it ran 24hrs and did about 6 tonnes in the day. Some of the best foundation we ever had for bee acceptance. However brittleness outweighed its advantages. These machines are quite common in eastern Europe

Thus it is likely the difference you met was due to process rather than provenance.
Have seen large lots foundation going to Africa that was 70% paraffin wax.......rolled in processing so was much like what we normally expect. Would have been hard to tell even for me and we have handled a bit of foundation in our time.....

 

[deemann1]

I usually get my foundation from maisemore don't know what to do now , the prices here in Ireland are steep €15 for 10 national brood foundation. This whole Brexit deal has screwed things up

 

[OldFarm]

No one has mentioned Thornes, any reason?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Apart from buying via our bka which shops around for bulk pricing I buy odd bits and bobs from Damien at Abelo. I (and my bees) don't find acceptance problems.

 

[North End Bees]

No one has mentioned Thornes, any reason?

I usually buy Thornes and have never had any problems with it.
I buy the premier grade (about £1.30 more per super than their standard grade) because it's UK/Irish/commonwealth wax. But presumably if UK beekeepers are trading in their Chinese wax, how are Thornes to know??

 

[Brian Bush]

One of my beekeeping friends visited a UK manufacturer. He was surprised to see huge pallets of dirty beeswax, imported from outside the EU awaiting processing. On enquiring about it he was assured that once it had been filtered and processed you would not know the difference. Every time I take him to the BeeTradex or other show he refuses to buy wax from this supplier. I am sure that what he saw was probably not as bad as he perceived it to be. I have pointed out that some of the wax traded at the shows looks pretty terrible but is processed to look pretty good when it is for sale.
Some of you may remember a few years ago a shortage of foundation. I could only buy 14x12 wax foundation from one supplier. It had a definite green tinge but the bees did not seem to mind. The raw material had apparently been sourced from Ethiopia. The bees forage on one particular plant the had green pollen. The good thing was there were probably no nasty contaminants in it.

 

[robinharman]

I asked STB last year this question;

Where do you source you wax?

And the answer was...

Hi
Our frames and foundation are sourced from a reliable international supplier who we have used for many years now.

Many Thanks
Hanna
The Team at Simon the Beekeeper-