Quick foundation question please.

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fullframe45

House Bee
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
167
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Location
lancashire
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
4 --5.
Being a newbie i was wondering what the difference (apart from the obvious )is regarding the Horizontally wired frames and the Diagonaly wired ones.
Thank you.
 
Just to elaborate i have run out of horizontally wired and have seen the diagonal ones and was not sure if they are just the same(ish) Thank you.
 
Some suppliers are better than others in terms of manufacturing consistency of wiring and thickness of the base layer of wax. You get what you pay for. But as the bees don't seem to mind which I use, I go for the cheapest (which happens to the nearest too) and put up with the wires not always being fully embedded into the wax.
 
Just in case you don't realise, you need to bend the two pointie bits of wire at right angles and they go under the top bar additional bit of wood to hold the wax in place before you pin it. The other end may just poke out between the bottom bars, don't worry about that.
 
Just in case you don't realise, you need to bend the two pointie bits of wire at right angles and they go under the top bar additional bit of wood to hold the wax in place before you pin it. The other end may just poke out between the bottom bars, don't worry about that.

Interesting. I always put the foundation the other way up, with 3 wire loops at the top and two at the bottom. Just habit I guess.
 
The yanks call that piece of wood a snapout which seems appropriate.
I heard it called a wedge but that's a misnomer on BS frames at least.

There is a Big Difference in quality of foundation.
I used to buy the cheapest I could find but had the little buggers turn their noses up at it,or chew it up and try to build bracecomb everywhere instead.
There's expensive rubbish about too but this year I seem to finally found some royalty-grade stuff from oldcastle that's still value for money
 
Interesting. I always put the foundation the other way up, with 3 wire loops at the top and two at the bottom. Just habit I guess.

That's the way I've always done it, with three nails in the wedge going through the wire loops. Only because that's the way I was taught to do it, mind.

James
 
I had some foundation from modern beekeeping. I was making the frames up in the garden - the bees were very attracted to it and there was constant several investigating the nice smell. Unsurprisingly it has been accepted very well!
 
That's the way I've always done it, with three nails in the wedge going through the wire loops. Only because that's the way I was taught to do it, mind.

James

That's my approach, yes. 3 fixing points better than 2. In fact, I have done the maths, and it's 50% better! Maybe.
 
That's the way I've always done it, with three nails in the wedge going through the wire loops. Only because that's the way I was taught to do it, mind.
James

I don't worry about shewering directly through the loops, but most times I get two out of three by guesswork. I need to get the nails started in the bar/strip/wedge/snapout with it flat on the worktop.
 
SORRY! I just had to go and look at a sheet of foundation! I too do it the other way round! 😱
I was convinced in my aging mind that there were only two loops, durrrr! Sorry again for the confusion!
But....I don't nail the loops. If I melt the frames in the solar wax melter I can easily remove the wire without taking the ,'wedge' off!
 
I don't worry about shewering directly through the loops, but most times I get two out of three by guesswork. I need to get the nails started in the bar/strip/wedge/snapout with it flat on the worktop.
A nail gun is game-changing, I take about 25 seconds to fully nail an assembled frame!
 
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