Wax foundation

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Wax Foundation
Mittelwand 17a.jpg
Wax foundation with wires inserted into a frame
ClassificationBeekeeping
Typessmall cell
large cell
wired
Used with Langstroth hive
Hive frame
InventorJohannes Mehring
Manufacturervarious

Wax foundation or honeycomb base is a plate made of wax forming the base of one honeycomb. It is used in beekeeping to give the bees a foundation on which they can build the honeycomb. [1] Wax foundation is considered one of the most important inventions in modern beekeeping. [1]

Contents

History

Foundation press in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911) Foundation Machine.png
Foundation press in the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)

Wax foundation was invented by German Johannes Mehring in 1857, [1] a few years after Langstroth designed and patented the Langstroth hive on October 5, 1852. [2] Mehring's wax foundation had only the bottom of the cells, and today's base with the foundation of the cells was invented by US beekeeper Samuel Wagner. [1] The Langstroth patent did not call for foundation and let the bees build their own comb. [3]

At first, wax foundations were made in the wax foundation press. [1] The first presses were made of wood, while later presses could be made of plaster, cement, and finally metal, which are the ones used today. [1] Wagner also invented the wax foundation rollers, but never perfected them; the first usable rollers were made by Amos Root and precise mechanic Alva Washburn in 1875. [4] In 1895. Detroit inventor Edward Weed invented rollers that can make wax foundation in a continuous roll. [5]

Use

Sheet of foundation out of a cardboard box Beekeeping wax foundation.jpg
Sheet of foundation out of a cardboard box

Wax or plastic foundation is inserted into a wooden frame through the top and is usually connected to the side bars with wire. It is not used in foundationless frames or in plastic frames where the foundation is made of plastic and is part of the frame itself. Foundation is not usually used in top-bar applications (where no frames are used) such as Top Bar Hives or Warre Hives except sometimes as starter strips.

Wax foundation has some advantages over letting bees build their own comb:

For these reasons, foundation had been used extensively in commercial operations.

Recently there has been a large movement toward foundationless beekeeping by hobbyists for various reasons. Some of which are listed below:

A frame has to be wired so that the wax foundation could be inserted into it. [10] The foundation is then soldered with the wire by using a spur embedder or electric current. Also extant are wax foundations with embedded wire that only need to be inserted into the frame. [10]

Wax foundations are made in various sizes, depending on the frame they will be inserted into. If needed, roller knife is used to cut wax foundations. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

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A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal prismatic cells built from beeswax by honey bees in their nests to contain their brood and stores of honey and pollen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beehive</span> Structure housing a honey bee colony

A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus Apis live and raise their young. Though the word beehive is used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature distinguishes nest from hive. Nest is used to discuss colonies that house themselves in natural or artificial cavities or are hanging and exposed. The term hive is used to describe an artificial/man-made structure to house a honey bee nest. Several species of Apis live in colonies. But for honey production, the western honey bee and the eastern honey bee are the main species kept in hives.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bee brood</span> Chamber of a beehive

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horizontal top-bar hive</span> Type of beehive

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langstroth hive</span> Vertically modular beehive with hung brood and honey frames

In beekeeping, a Langstroth hive is any vertically modular beehive that has the key features of vertically hung frames, a bottom board with entrance for the bees, boxes containing frames for brood and honey and an inner cover and top cap to provide weather protection. In a Langstroth hive, the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be moved with ease. The frames are designed to prevent bees from attaching honeycombs where they would either connect adjacent frames, or connect frames to the walls of the hive. The movable frames allow the beekeeper to manage the bees in a way which was formerly impossible.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hive frame</span> Element of modern movable-comb beehive

A hive frame or honey frame is a structural element in a beehive that holds the honeycomb or brood comb within the hive enclosure or box. The hive frame is a key part of the modern movable-comb hive. It can be removed in order to inspect the bees for disease or to extract the excess honey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honey super</span> Part of a commercial beehive used to collect honey

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A honey extractor is a mechanical device used in the extraction of honey from honeycombs. A honey extractor extracts the honey from the honey comb without destroying the comb. Extractors work by centrifugal force. A drum or container holds a frame basket which spins, flinging the honey out. With this method the wax comb stays intact within the frame and can be reused by the bees.

Hive management in beekeeping refers to intervention techniques that a beekeeper may perform to ensure hive survival and to maximize hive production. Hive management techniques vary widely depending on the objectives.

This page is a glossary of beekeeping.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. L. Langstroth</span> American apiarist (1810–1895)

Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was an American apiarist, clergyman, and teacher, and considered to be the father of American beekeeping. He recognized the concept of bee-space, a minimum distance that bees avoid sealing up. Although not his own discovery, the use of this principle allowed for the use of frames that the bees leave separate and this allowed the use of rectangular frames within the design of what is now called the Langstroth hive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langstroth Cottage</span> Historic house in Ohio, United States

Langstroth Cottage is a historic building on the Western College campus of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on June 22, 1976. The cottage, built in 1856, is now the home for the Oxford office of the Butler County Regional Transit Authority. It was purchased for Beekeeper L. L. Langstroth in 1859, and he lived there for the next 28 years, conducting research and breeding honey bees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Honey extraction</span> Process of harvesting honey from honeycomb

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western honey bee</span> European honey bee

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas White Woodbury</span> English journalist and beekeeper

Thomas White Woodbury was an English journalist and beekeeper, devoting himself entirely to beekeeping from 1850 onwards after the death of his son. He was responsible for introducing Ligurian or Italian bees to Britain in 1859.

In 1859 Woodbury imported a yellow Ligurian queen from Mr Hermann in Switzerland. She arrived by train on 3 August in a rough deal box with about a thousand worker bees. Woodbury had prepared an 8-bar hive, including four frames of honey and pollen plus one empty comb, and he gently shook the newcomers into this. Then he took a skep of local black bees weighing 34.5 pounds and shook them out in clusters on four cloths spread out on the grass; helped by his friend Mr Fox. He found and took out the queen, before placing the hive with Ligurian queen and bees over the shaken bees. Alas they fought, and in the morning there were many dead bees, but he hoped for the best. By 17 August, great loads of pollen were going in, and he knew that the first queen from outside Britain had been introduced. When he wrote about this in the 'Cottage Gardener' he had letters from all over the country asking for stocks from this queen for next year, so at once he telegraphed for two more queens and they arrived on 27 August having been four days on the way. Although most of the bees were dead, each package had their queen still living, and each queen was successfully introduced to a colony. Ron Brown Great Masters of Beekeeping

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BS National Beehive</span>

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Flow Hive is a brand of beehive with a unique honey frame, which allows honey extraction without opening the beehive. During extraction, bees are visibly disturbed less than by other methods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franz Hruschka</span>

Franz Hruschka, Franz von Hruschka, Francesco De Hruschka, František Hruška was an Austrian/Italian of Czech origin officer and beekeeper known as the inventor of the honey extractor, an invention he presented in 1865 at the Brno Beekeeper Conference.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Katalinić, Josip (1985). Pčelarstvo. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Znanje. pp. 220–221.
  2. "Istorijski razvoj košnice". Union of Beekeeping Associations of Serbia. Archived from the original on 2013-11-09. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
  3. US Patent # US9300A
  4. Katalinić, Josip (1985). Pčelarstvo. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Znanje. p. 222.
  5. Katalinić, Josip (1985). Pčelarstvo. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Znanje. p. 224.
  6. 1 2 3 Natural Cell Size - Michael Bush - Bush Farms http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnaturalcell.htm
  7. Scientific Beekeeping - Fighting Varroa - http://scientificbeekeeping.com/fighting-varroa-biotechnical-tactics-ii/
  8. 1 2 Bee Culture - Ditch the foundation - http://www.beeculture.com/ditch-the-foundation/
  9. Beekeeping Like a Girl - Why Try Foundationless Beekeeping http://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/why-try-foundationless-beekeeping/
  10. 1 2 Katalinić, Josip (1985). Pčelarstvo. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Znanje. pp. 229–231.
  11. Katalinić, Josip (1985). Pčelarstvo. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Znanje. p. 233.