Waxing Foundation | Why your bees chew up your foundation!-That Bee Man

Have you ever wondered why your bees didn't want to draw your plastic foundation properly, or at all? Have you ever wondered why your bees have chewed up some or much of your wax foundation in your frames? In this video, I talk about when and why the bees don't do what you want or expect them to do.
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[@bradkendrick1127]

Great angle I enjoyed the wax perspective. “Mama’s going to kill me!” 🤣🤣

[@mark-wn5ek]

Just love to listen to you....sorta like Bob Ross...."well...it's your foundation..you can roll it on anyway you like.....let's put a nice coating of titanium wax write there....just brush it on...if it's too thick...we'll just work it out....now how about little over in this corner...." hehe, you do great work Brad, I always enjoy and especially your demeanor.

[@ThatBeeMan]

Thanks Mark! I'm glad you enjoy the videos. It's that kind of encouragement that keeps me going!

[@andycalcutt2177]

I second what Mark said, just subscribed also, great video. When you said they'll chew the wax off of the plastic foundation and won't ever use that section, if you rewax the chewed area as in the video, will they draw it out then?

[@richardkuhn8115]

Good video & description Brad. Thank you. Blessings.

[@ThatBeeMan]

Thanks Richard!

[@coptotermes]

To stop the roller falling off, drill a small hole through the shaft of the roller and insert a small nail and bend it over.

[@mikeclement5383]

Cotter pin

[@DougJohnson-om3uw]

I just bought some frames that say they have a wax coating but it looks kind of thin to me. Should I add more?

[@ThatBeeMan]

Your bees would likely draw them just fine on a honey flow but also, you won't hurt anything by waxing them and if you do, the bees will draw them way faster.

[@nickosuperintendant9514]

When you melt the wax in the pot. Do you put water in it?

[@ThatBeeMan]

Not when I am waxing frames. The wax is already quite clean.

[@jerrydegroot1573]

Great video. Is there a thing as too much wax?

[@ThatBeeMan]

I've never tested those limits. I imagine there is a limit but I expect you'd have to go pretty crazy with the wax to reach it.

[@dlaw7840]

@@ThatBeeMan I saw this video for first time this morning and went and scraped all my old dry waxed frames and plan to melt the wax and do exactly what you showed. I appreciate the info idea.

[@norfolkhoneybee273]

When brood comb gets old , do you strip off wax and boil the plastic foundation . Then re apply the wax again.

[@ThatBeeMan]

I have not needed to do a lot of that but it can be done. You can't boil the plastic foundation without warping it beyond usefulness. You need to render the foundation no hotter than 75c in order to melt the wax yet leave the foundation undamaged. This is also how I clean my metal and plastic queen excluders. Running frames and queen excluders at 75c is why my temperature controlled wax melter is such a benefit.

[@ShibuRajkalluvila]

Can you share the make and model of temp controlled wax melter?

[@ThatBeeMan]

@@ShibuRajkalluvila The wax melter featured in this video is specifically a model SCV503SS-CN which is available exclusively at Home Hardware stores in Canada. www.homehardware.ca/en/55-quart-oval-stainless-steel-slow-cooker-with-little-dipper/p/3826895

[@ShibuRajkalluvila]

Hi there thanks for the model info. I should have been more clear on my question. I was looking for melting wax out of plastic foundations. What kind of a wax melting device you use for that. A video on that will help lot of us who want to do that . I don’t want to put plastic back to the nature as long as I can reuse it

[@ThatBeeMan]

@@ShibuRajkalluvila The plastic foundation is easy to reuse. I've rendered it in my melter at 75c and it is not damaged. Sometimes, I'll use a pressure washer to clean up the foundation. There is far more waste produced when using and rendering wax foundation due to all the support wired that are necessary.
I use this wax melter. tonylalondesales.ca/product/wax-melter-water-jacket-45-gal-capacity/

[@rezganger]

"flow"? you mean flow of resources,like protein and carbohydrates?

[@ThatBeeMan]

"Flow" usually refers to a nectar flow (incoming nectar) but there are also pollen flows.