Hi Kamon. I truly enjoy, and appreciate, your videos. THANKS for the ongoing lessons :) I have 2 locations but just a total of 10 active hive... 9 Lang hives and 1 TBH (top-bar hive). I am in central Indiana Hobbiest who has been keeping bees for 10 yrs+; had a few yrs that I could not BK bc of knee/leg surgeries. I am preparing to buy a Long Hive by next year. Alas, I use wax foundations with wires in my deeps and plastic foundation in my supers (mediums). Yes it takes up some time and prepping them is my winter bee work. I find some queens may not lay on the wires, but that they like the natural wax. That is fine with me since I use 2 deeps. I agree with you that the wires TRULY gives it more strength! This year I bought foundation WITHOUT wires. I put it in a hive in early August. I was Not feeding bc I didn't want "funny honey". I SO regretted it!! As you mentioned, on hot days (and we had many!!) the foundations bowed, and without feeding them, the wax was never pulled; barely touched. I just rendered some of the bowed foundation in the hive. I have not supported foundation with wire/string yet. I have decided to use plastic super frames because the honey weight. Please continue to share - You are appreciated! THANK YOU

You know beekeepers should have a jig for everything. I can stack two stacks of 10 frames and imbued them with wax sheets all at once in a couple of seconds. I wrote you already.. the wires should be on the frames and sound like a Mandolin.. better horizontally, so they don't pull the bottom bar up over time. 2 for mediums, 4 for deeps. Ask Richard Noel.. he uses even bigger frames. We talked about it, it's our winter therapy 😎

Fredrick Dun Video seems to be a wrong link?

I wonder if there's a simple way to make wax foundation without specialized tools.

Para não machucar tantas abelhas

Aqui no Brasil usamos uma vassourinha

How did this treatment work with the strips?

😂😂😂 I'm laughing because I've actually forgotten the common name for that same tool! Funny, I've been a machinist for 40 years!

I disagree 💯 There is only 1 natural bee honey,🍯 the liquid form and gold color... 🐝

Missed again 😅 bee stuff was happening. Willow catkins popped today and the bees are nailing it😂 i love pollen 😂 got gorse willow and a little apricot pollen too, woohoo 👍😃 get some rest Man, you look beat. I don't know how you pack it all in. screw the damn KZbin videos take a couple of weeks off and spin some honey and relax, unless extracting honey is stressful for you, personally i find it relaxing but i don't have a wife and children and a KZbin channel either so i can just take my sweet time with it. Just put up some KZbin reruns for a couple of weeks 😂 don't know how you do it, i sure as heck couldn't fit video stuff in and expos and classes and running a business and having a family...im tired just typing it out, how are you not dead😂 its either a mythril shirt or something 👍👋

Didn't the fat bee man have a video on making foundation some years back?

In climate similar to yours.. bees can fly out almost every day to relieve them self.. l keep all my double deeps (200ish) brood on top, food under for the coldest part of the year. They have no problem bringing up what they need and are always dry in the warmest part of the hive. Bottom box should have 8 frames or 10 but the end ones must be fully capped honey so the humidity slides down

Thanks! Ha Kamon good live chat I did not get to watch it but I have a couple of questions if you would be so kind to answer. 1 how do u buy the videos from last time expo, and 2 I am in Virginia our weather is about the same I would think. I am feeding my bees 2 gal buckets, of1-1 sugar syrup been doing so since july anso pollen sub at what temps do i stop when does the queen stop laying winter bees I like large clusters and we do not have any kind of fall flow where i am . thanks so much and have a Blessed week

Now that you talked about wax sheets and swarming. Wire the frame only horizontally.. when the queen lays it, take the bottom of the comb and push it to make one side of the eggs pointing down. Push the frame next to it to give it some security, to keep it horizontal for the start or make two legs until the bees reinforce it. Back yard beekeepers will have all the cells they need right there

badass tool breaker

My lord.. joints.. drops. Who do you think l am. I passed 60s. I smoked all the joints i could

It’s how good your hustle is lol

Don’t let trolls bother you bro anyone that knows beekeeping knows you got to pay to play

Combine in NFLder I’m in Nova Scotia you want to combine it

I want a copy of your book when you have it done please let me know

If I was in USA I would come your confrence

Frost in Nova Scotia tonight 😅

I hope your event turns out good bro how was Your turn out with the young kids learning them about beekeeping ?!

I noticed while just putting those wax foundations, that they bow like that as soon as you tac the stay strip on, I'm like well dag the wire hooks are not a 90 degree I'm like well who to tell and have them correct that, or is that some thing they can't correct, I don't like plastic cause the plastic is to smooth I don't even think the bees can cling to plastic foundations

It's a tamper-proof Allen wrench.

14:11 looks like the flux capacitor from the back to the future lol

Hear a lot that Apiguard will cause the queen to shut down for a while. What is the average amount of days? Hard to make an educated decision about using it without that info. Couldn't find it on the manufactures website and have heard you say it, along with many others. Do they only shut down on the first dose or again on the second dose and again if you do a third dose. Kamon how many days shutdown have you observed?

Ian Steppler also said the content of his videos offered wouldn't change but it has. Maybe all his content has changed but the non paid version is very basic. I still enjoy it but it has changed.

I use plastic and fishing line for foundation less frames. I cut cells for queens. I do have a question for you How do you release your virgins in a queeless hive? Thanks for all the videos

Just curious what is a reasonable expectation for a double deep strong hive how many medium plastic Foundation frames could they draw out and fill with honey on an average honey flow year

I just tried wood pellet today, I could not get it lit, this was an awesome vid, im going to collect pine needles tomorrow, thanks for the info

Thanks for your videos. Learning a lot.

All I've ever used is was foundations. My mentor recommended wax so I've not tried plastic. Which I'm gonna do this next spring. There is no "one" way folks. Just get in there and do it! Enjoy it!

I've used wired waxed foundation since the beginning (over 10 years) and run approx 30-40 hives a year with little if any problems. Yeah the bees occasionally will "repurpose" some of the wax or occasionally drill an access hole in the center somewhere but that is fairly rare. I do love to utilize the extra queen cells by cutting them out and creating 3-framed mating nucs for extra queen sales or self utilization. I do not crosswire the wax foundation and have never had a blowout when harvesting honey and I run all medium frames throughout the hive. But maybe that is because my electric extractor isn't super charged and I run the frames at a lower speed at first. In addition, I do not run the frames through the extractor when temps are super hot making the wax softer and flexible so use common sense. Have tried my hand at comb honey and using sheets of wax foundation (unwired) and works really well when a flow is on. Melting the wax is easy in the wax melter when wax become old and black and then while the frames are still warm its easy to scrape out the top and bottom groves with a frame cleaner/scraper to pop new wax wired foundation into the groves. See you all at the EXPO!

Excellent discussion, Kamon. You hit everything I have experienced. I was directed to use wax early on to help them draw, and draw it fast they did. Since then, I've been moving over to plastic more and more. After the first season, the wax frames get tough and don't blow out, but that first year, you had better be careful. Thanks for your continued help to the bee community. Hope to see you in Virginia.

Where can I purchase this SHB product?

In Portugal I never saw plastic, (we are more tradicional in Europe)I think, we use wax foundation. Easier to have our own queens.

In Serbia and whole Balkan we prefer wax foundations over plastic. I tried plastic foundation, but it was badly manufactured (warped) so I'm trying to straighten it up and use it for the queen rearing equipment.

Hi from central Otago 👋 Yup😂 I'm a old school full depth boxes wood frames and wax foundation beekeeper and personally I prefer wax over plastic but I think it's personal preference, it's like drones in a hive, I love seeing them and some people facepalm themselves when they see a lot of drones. Some beekeepers wouldn't touch wax foundation with a barge pole😂 I run four cross wires in my frames and I use my battery wax embedder to embed the foundation in section's, which is much more time consuming than wire to wire and zap, but I don't have problems with foundation warp so I think it's worth the extra effort and time per frame. I also don't put foundation in unless I'm feeding heavily or there's a nectar flow on otherwise, yeah, bored hungry bee's mean either stripped frames or giant holes in the foundation. Comb honey frames I do a section of wax sheet using heavy brood foundation, which for some weird reason is now called manuka special in NZ now 😂 and let the bee's use that as starter strips. I wire and nail that section on separately, wire the rest of the frame to support the new comb, then let the bee's draw the rest of the comb wild, and cut the wild comb off for comb honey, then use the foundation built section for extra feeding if I need a little bit of extra feed. I do lose quite a bit of the frame, maybe a quarter, to the bee's, but I think the natural drawn comb is far superior as a consumable product and it gives me a few mini resources I can slip in a struggling hive. Personally I'm much more comfortable with wax foundation and wood gear but you can absolutely get great results with well coated plastic and if you're a bit of a fast spinner, it is more robust in a fast extractor. Great topic 👍 couldn't think of a decent hobbit joke today but I did quote you to a hobbyist this morning with " if you're keeping bee's you're losing bee's" 😂👍👋

I am mostly foundationless and let the bees build their own comb to their specification. 25+ hives with half of those top bar hives. It's all about the wax.

All starter strips and wax foundation here, 8 frame medium everything, 30 colonies. Miller make a wax foundation frame that the bottom bar is slotted to eliminate the bowing you are correctly talking about. I have just started using them, so, jury is still out but I cannot recommend Dadant wire reinforced foundation or frames, both too inconsistent and out of square. Soon I will get a big batch of more Miller frames and wire reinforced foundation and I will give them a real test, but the small batch I got from them looked very promising.

Hello kamon I started out in sixty eight using wax foundation and have used it ever since an I do like it . I still wire all of them in even the brood frames . I do not “X” my wiring I go back an forth tho yes both ways will work just fine . BUT BUT BUT with all that said I have been watching some of the ( PROS )on here like you an mike others!!!!!. I started switching out foundations with plastic and YES I do like the Plastic a lot to an I will be putting more plastic in this winter. One reason for switching out the deep brood foundation is the Black plastic I can see the eggs an I can not see them on wax foundation. I guess that is a old joke on myself. LOL . I would say for people to use what ever works for themself an what ever you have time to use because yes it takes a lot longer on the wax to install. Thanks as always kamon .

I use plastic foundation

the only wax foundation i use is for production of cut comb honey. it seems i am always behind without having to mess with wax foundation.

Will it pump straight prosweet 60 degrees

The top of a horizontal needs to constructed the same as a langstroth hive. Looks to me that bee space has not been used.

Lots of variables in beekeeping, that’s what makes it so much fun. I’m trying beetle grease with wintergreen oil. Sure hope it works., been trying peppermint candy, but the bees eat it up so quick.

So many variables in beekeeping, that’s what makes it so much fun., try everything, keep what works for you. I’m trying beetle grease for the first time with wintergreen oil. Been using peppermint candy, seems to work, but the bees keep eating it.

Thank you for sharing

I am far from an expert on bear fences but I do have some experience ( I helped build 70 fences this summer). I will put some rebar posts in the with insulators every 6-8 ft. It keeps the wire tight. I would also add a ground wire in the middle to increase the shock.