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Author Topic: can wax foundation go bad?  (Read 4727 times)

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Offline pistolpete

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can wax foundation go bad?
« on: August 11, 2014, 12:50:43 am »
I have some wax foundation of indeterminate age.  My guess is it's anywhere from 5 to 20 years old.  Is it still good?

The reason I ask is because I put a super of this foundation on my strongest hive about two weeks ago and they have not touched it at all.  There are two supers of honey above this one that are being ripened, lots of traffic, but they have not drawn a single cell on the wax foundation.  There is a flow on, but it's tapering down as drought conditions continue.
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Offline riverbee

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2014, 01:54:37 am »
pete, i would say it's good, i have beeswax foundation primarily in my supers, and some of it is at least 20 years old.  this time of the season, bees are  not likely to draw too much foundation of any sort and that would be my guess.  how was it stored? might have a little 'wax bloom' on it but this shouldn't be a problem. are the bees capping the other supers of honey that are being ripened you have on top?  are those frames full? 

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Offline pistolpete

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2014, 02:49:18 am »
The two supers on top are full and about 50% capped.  I suppose they might be cramming a little more in there somewhere, one super weighs about 70 lbs and the other 60 (as near as I can guess)
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Offline iddee

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2014, 08:36:02 am »
I have used 20 and 30 year old foundation and the only problem was that it became brittle with age and had to be handled with care. Once installed, the bees worked it fine.

Like Riverbee said, it's likely the time of year.
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Offline brooksbeefarm

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2014, 08:57:37 am »
If a dearth is on in your area they will probably start eating holes in it, if that's the case i would take it off. Just my way of thinking. ??? Jack
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #5 on: August 11, 2014, 10:09:39 am »
I would trust the bees instincts.  There is a reason they walked over that super to get to two other supers.
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Offline CpnObvious

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Re: can wax foundation go bad?
« Reply #6 on: August 11, 2014, 11:27:27 am »
about 20, or so, of my 60 frames have Duragilt foundation that's about 22 years old.  Most of it has been drawn.  I find that if they aren't drawing it and I place that frame between 2 drawn frames they are much quicker to draw it out.

On a side note:  Lazy had said he doesn't like Duragilt because if they strip the wax down to that thin layer of plastic they won't rebuild on it.  I have two areas like this on old foundation.  They do not appear to be doing this on the new.  Those two areas were don't almost immediately, though.  They have not continued stripping foundation in probably 7 or 8 weeks...  I am trying to get those two frames out of use.
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