Is concern over residues in foundation warranted?

[Neils]

Just having spotted Ron Hoskins (of Swindon Bee fame) in an article in this month's BBKA news firmly link chemical residues in wax with Drone sterility/queen supersedure I thought it a pertinent question.

Last year I stopped using foundation completely in my supers and I'm still mulling over the practically on 14x12 frames of phasing out foundation in the brood boxes. Chemical residues do play a large part in considering this although just letting the bees draw the combs the want is also a factor.

I don't personally use pyrethoid or similar chemical/pesticide treatments, thymol aside if people want to get picky, as part of my varroa IPM and so I don't really want to introduce it back into my hives through foundation.

Am I worrying over nothing? once drawn to comb is the quantity of wax in foundation likely to mean that concentrations are now going to be so low as to make no difference and/or am I just buying into the pesticide "scare" through the back door? I don't seem to be able to find anything conclusive linking anything in wax with wider bee health problems.

[EmsE]

Hi Nellie, does your LA have the facility to make foundation? At least then you know the wax is from a trusted source.

[chris]

Nellie, the 2007 study by Chauzat & Faucon on pesticides in wax has this phrase at the end

"Therefore, the authors strongly encourage beekeepers
to make foundation wax from their own virgin wax."

I'm not going to argue with that.

[Jon]

from their own virgin wax..

That's the tricky bit.
Like Nellie, I am suspicious of chemical build up in the Wax.
We have a guy in our bka who presses wax for all the rest of us at a reasonable price.
Members give him lumps of wax and you get back a proportional number of sheets in various sizes, drone or worker whatever you ask for.
The problem is that most of the chemical contamination is still going to be in there.
I don't use Apistan any more but nearly everyone else in my BKA does so if I use this wax I get recycled Apistan.

I believe a lot of wax is imported from other sources such as China so if you buy wax from a commercial supplier the problem could even be worse.
Does anyone happen to know where the various suppliers such as Thorne source their product.

[EmsE]

Is there also a risk of the wax from an unknown source to carry AFB or is it speculation? Our LA is encouraging us to make our own foundation from our own wax.

[chris]

Jon, can't you work it so the foundation you get back is from your own wax?.
My beekeeping supplier also provides wax from organic sources. It costs about 50 % more. I bought it once, to start off,and now use my bees' own, but in starter strips, letting them build their own comb within frames.

[Neils]

14x12 is basically a national and a half in single box so it's a long thin frame compared to the (relatively) wide short in a commercial/Langstroths/dadant.

Even with wired foundation they're notoriously prone to sagging or falling out completely if not handled carefully.

[chris]

I was considering putting a brace about halfway down the frame with a starter strip there and at the top, but I'm also a little unsure at the moment what the ramifications, if any are, in terms of how that might affect the brood area.
.

Nellie, personally, I'd try an experiment on a few frames. I'd drill holes halfway down the frame sides, and insert a metal rod, about 2 mm. in diameter.I'd then wire vertically,wrapping the wire once around the rod on the way down. Then a starter strip at the top.The vertical wires will guide the comb down, and the rod should thus be incorporated into the comb.I can't see it messing with the brood area- bees are amazingly adaptable.

[Calum]

umm better to put in a wooden rod or strut - makes me shiver thinking of a metal rod conducting all the warmth away in winter!

[Rosie]

I can't see vertical wires working well with BS frames as the bottom bars are so flimsy. I would just put a couple of fishing lines horizontally between the side bars. 14x12s aren't as bad as you think Nellie. I usually keep about 6 or 8 14x12 hives and have not noticed comb problems.

Rosie