john & jeff regarding the wasps nest do you cut the hive up into blank sized bits and keep stacking them until its thick enough to cast in PR or is it loose in the PR like gold leaf?
mark it is wrapped all the way around the pen (on the sides are thin lines)
gary hey another fellow beekeeper!!! this stuff is fully extracted plastic comb not wax. i might try wax next!!! i see your military rank on your username funny in that i got interested in beekeeping while in command during OEF4 and after coming back from that deployment in Afghanistan i started the hobby. it has been a blessing but frustrating at times too. last week my hive just got attacked by a bear looking for a tasty treat. same thing took place last year which is a shame ;( and costly.
john those patterns are replicated by the manufacturer and based on a real comb's cell size in that this is fully extruded plastic comb. God wired a 'nursing' bee to produce exact size cells within very very high tolerances every time, time and time again. in beekeeping cell sizes are a very big topic of discussion. many beekeepers practice 'small cell management' trying to manipulate them down in size in hopes of keeping the risk of mites in control which are a huge problem. if the cell is just a hair smaller then God's original design the mite cant mature to size and dies leaving the brood 'baby bee' alone. they also sell plastic frames (pierco) which only has a slight indent (the shape of a bee cell in the plastic foundation) which the bees will 'build up' with wax. with both plastic type frames you need to coat them with wax so the bees 'take to them' otherwise you run the risk of the bees rejecting the frame sensing that something is wrong. hey dont get me started on discussing beekeeping because i wont stop
cindy painted tubes should work well! haha you can try it in that i am selling some comb over in the classifieds <wink><wink>
