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Drone Comb Foundation Using A Silicone Mould

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Lesgold:
Hi Folks,

As part of my IPM, I intend to use drone comb to help control varroa within my hives. Plastic drone comb frames are currently available to use for this task but getting the bees to draw comb can be an issue if your timing isn?t correct. I have made up some frames with starter strips and these will work well when there is a good flow in progress but things slow down when the nectar isn?t coming in by the bucket load. When these times arise in my area, I have found that foundation tends to be drawn quicker as the bees have access to the wax within the foundation and tend to use some of that to help to stretch out the cells. I intend to use all three methods and will take advantage of each over the course of a season. Many years ago I made a mould from silicone to make normal foundation and this method worked exceptionally well. The bees would draw out the foundation very quickly for some reason. Perhaps it had something to do with the use of my own wax but in reality I can?t think of any reason why they would. I just know that the bees liked it. The only problems with casting wax foundation is that it is brittle in cool weather and it tends to vary in thickness due to the sagging of the mould as the wax hardens.

A couple of months ago a beekeeping supplier gave me one of those green drone comb frames to try in the coming season and I decided to trash it and use the foundation pattern to make a silicone mould. I can?t see any reason why it shouldn?t work so I decided to give it a try. I?ll run through the method of construction and photograph each section as I attempt it andgive you guys a bit of an idea as to how I get the mould made. I?m sure that many of you would be able to improve on what I?m attempting to do but at least there will be a baseline of ideas to build on. I think that it may take about four days to make the mould as there will need to be time set aside for glues and silicone to dry. So here goes.

The first step was to order some silicone online. I jumped onto eBay last week and ordered a 1kg pack. I purchased silicone with a shore hardness of 25 (which is the most common stiffness of liquid silicone that is sold). That has just arrived and I figured through some rough mathematics that 1kg should give a reasonable thickness to both sections of the mould. The next step was to get some material for a base onto which the mould could be constructed. I chose 12mm MDF as it is flat and has a good surface finish. MDF or particle board with a melamine finish would also be suitable for this part of the project. As the drone comb was a moulded, one piece frame, the foundation had to be cut out. I made a simple jig that gave me a base to support the jigsaw and also a fence to ensure that cuts were straight. This fence was cramped inside the frame and the top and bottom bars were cut away. The two end bars were then removed. What remained was essentially a piece of plastic drone foundation. The cut edges were then cleaned up and tested for flatness. 8 small blobs of plumbers silicone were then added to the underside of the foundation and it was then weighted down and left to dry sitting on the baseboard. I cut some strips of 15x12mm pine which will be used to make a wall around the foundation. They will be cut to size tomorrow when the glue dries. I also cut some strips of 3mm thick MDF to act as spacers around the foundation. I?ll post again in the morning when the next step is completed.

Ben Framed:
Les even before obtaining  my first Bees, I read an article concentrating a situation in Africa, where volunteers were helping the African people to update their methods of beekeeping to modern Langstroth hives.

The silicone mold was one of the key tools, which was featured in that article. I flirted with the idea of trying the same thing but never did. I also watched a video where a well-known beekeeper melts his wax down each year, recycling and embosses fresh foundation with one of the hand crank type foundation embossers.

It is my understanding that this type of foundation is not brittle as in the silicone type. I?m kind of straying off of your subject of drone foundation. However, I still think your idea is a good one pursuing your purpose.

If I were to go into beekeeping more than a small hobby, I would definitely follow the lead of the fat B man, and buy one of those crank embarrassing foundation machines.

I?m just curious, how many of those drone foundations do you plan to use each season?  No doubt you will be successful in your endeavor.

Lesgold:
Hi Phillip,

When I first started in beekeeping,  I made a silicone mold and used it for a few years with great success. Cast beeswax foundation is brittle in cool weather and I have read in the past that it would be difficult for the bees to draw out comb. That conversation gained a bit of traction and before you know it, people started believing what they had read. I actually found that if handled correctly, the cast foundation creates no issues at all for the bees. When taken to beehive temperature the wax softens and becomes very workable for the bees. When I cast the foundation I found that I could use one of two methods to attach the foundation to the frame. One was to place the foundation in the sun for about 2 minutes where it would soften and become flexible and the other was to insert the foundation into a frame while it was still warm which was my preferred method. I did a quick test on a couple of hives many years ago.  When ai added a super to a few hives I included a couple of frames with commercial wax foundation, a couple of frames with starter strips a couple of frames with my cast wax foundation and a couple of frames with plastic foundation with a wax covering. I just wanted to see what the bees  did with each of the frames. To my surprise, the cast foundation was drawn a little quicker than the commercial foundation and the bees really took to the starter strips but didn?t get them drawn as quickly as the foundation frames. The plastic frames were last to be touched but did get fully drawn before the starter strip frames were fully drawn. I will say that this was not a valid or reliable test as it was performed with only a few hives on one small honey flow. I have found that when there is a good flow on, all methods work well. Here is the link to my first venture in to YouTube using the wax mold that I made many years ago.

https://youtu.be/Fjq-ilNd39M?si=ur2ejflk7DHsqSZs

I intend to experiment with the drone comb but my thinking is to use it in conjunction with the frame cages when the queen is isolated. I will have to force brood breaks at some stage and should be able to get the queen to lay out this frame when she is isolated. This will hopefully attract varroa as the rest of the hive will have little to no brood during the process. I will then be able to remove this frame and destroy the comb. It will be just another component of the IPM process which will also include varroa pest strips. OAV is not not legal at this stage and won?t be an option unless regulations change.

I have been making all of my own foundation using an embossing roller for many years now. I steam all frames and recover the wax which is then used to make foundation. Unfortunately, I will not be able to recycle brood frame wax in the future due to chemical contamination. Here is a link to the method that I use:

https://youtu.be/OunOsxZqHAY?si=CFEEkC-UOQt_QU5q

Lesgold:
The next step in the construction of the mould was to cut the strips of 3mm MDF to the correct lengths so that there were no gaps for the liquid silicone to fill. It?s a bit hard to see on the photograph but there is a 6mm wide strip on the two long sides and the right hand end. A 30mm wide strip was cut at the left hand end of the mould. This is where the mould will hinge. The top surface of the MDF is very close to the height of the foundation. This pour will form the top flap of the foundation mould. 15mm x 12mm strips of pine were then cut and tacked in place to make the container to hold the silicone. The MDF inserts were held in place by friction only. A smear of Vaseline was then applied as a release agent on all timber surfaces. As the foundation is plastic, no release agent is required. 450grams of silicone was weighed and the appropriate amount of hardener was then added. It was thoroughly stirred and then poured into the mould. The flat end of a steel ruler was  used to flatten the silicone. The mould was  bumped and bounced a few times to help some of the bubbles come to the surface. There will be residual bubbles of air in the silicone but they should rise above the foundation and shouldn?t cause any problems or defects. I will now leave the silicone to dry over night before peeling it away from the foundation.

Ben Framed:
My reply to your Reply #2

Thanks for the good information Les! I am pleased to know the silicone molded wax foundation is easy to manage after all... Thumbs Up!!

Phillip

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