Plastic foundation for bee frames

Plastic foundation for bee frames has long been used in commercial beekeeping in many countries.

Plastic foundation sizes:
- for the "Dadant" frame - 283 x 422 mm;
- for the "Root" frame - 210 x 415 mm;
- for the "shallow half-frame" - 415x115 mm.

Food-grade plastic foundation is easy to fit into frames. For installation, grooves are cut in the top and bottom bars of the frames, and the foundation is simply inserted into the slot. With no wire and no need to drill the side bars, making hive frames becomes easier.

Thanks to its practicality, plastic foundation helps avoid many of the drawbacks of standard wax foundation while adding the advantages of plastic. Once in the hive, this foundation does not deform from wire, temperature changes or the weight of honey. On flat sheets of foundation, bees build neat comb with a minimum number of drone cells. To correct poorly built comb, the beekeeper can simply remove the unwanted layer of wax down to the plastic with a hive tool, and the bees will draw new comb.

One of the main advantages of plastic foundation is its convenience when extracting honey. Combs on plastic foundation do not break under the centrifugal force of the honey extractor, allowing honey to be extracted immediately at maximum speed. There is also no need to change the frame position several times to extract honey from one side. After extraction, these frames do not deform, and the bees quickly restore them to a condition suitable for brood or honey storage.

The foundation is easy to process in various ways (thermal or chemical) and can be reused many times.

When storing drawn comb on plastic foundation, the risk of wax moth damage is significantly reduced. If wax moth appears on one comb, it cannot chew through the plastic and move to the neighbouring comb. Plastic foundation also removes the risk of bee colonies being affected by diseases transmitted through wax when wax has not been sufficiently sterilised.

When using plastic foundation, it is recommended to use it in complete boxes and not to combine wax foundation and plastic foundation in the same box. When placing the foundation in the hive for the first time, it is recommended to spray the frames with honey syrup or sugar syrup.