Buying the Right Frames Foundation
Definition: Frame is normally considered the outside wood part of a frame. The foundation is considered the interior of the frame which is usually either wax or wax coated plastic and is where the bees draw cells to raise their brood or store honey. A one piece plastic frame is all in one.
In my opinion not enough emphasis is put on buying the right frames and foundation. The discussion goes between 100% wax foundation and plastic foundation coated with wax. And between wood and a "one-piece" plastic frame. I believe wood frames with the plastic foundation coated with wax is the best. One-piece plastic frames come with lots of small crevices for Small Hive Beetle to hide and to me it is a problem. Wood frames with wax foundation is a great way to go but they are a lot of work and not as durable as a wood frame with plastic foundation.
The best foundation I have found is manufactured by Acorn Company. It is the only foundation I carry. I also only carry their heavy wax coated foundation and to keep it simple only in black because it is easier to see white eggs against a black background. It cost a few cents more per piece but the heavy wax is the way to go. Keep reading.
Plastic foundation can come from many different manufactures with different levels of coatings. Acorn has single coating and "heavy wax" coating which is more than twice the wax of a single coating.
The proof is what the bees do with the foundation in the hive. Below is an experiment I did with Acorn Heavy Wax foundation and a single wax from another manufacture. I cut the 2 and split the frame with 1/2 the acorn which is on the right side of the frame and 1/2 was a single wax from another manufacture on the left. This was in the second deep super a week or so before the top photo. The bottom photo shows the results 2 weeks later.
As you can see they only drew out the acorn frames and only when they ran out of room did they draw the single wax side. The more wax the better. Heavy Wax is Better!!!
