Foundation Replacement

[Pharmacyman]

When do ya'll replace foundation? I have replaced so much this fall/winter that I am tired of it. Does color matter? I read somewhere it doesn't. The foundation in the picture is not even 4 years old![attachment=0]20241223_152922.jpg

[reedyfork]

I have started to try and replace my brood comb after 5 years. Finally got smart and started writing the year on top of each new frame (in Sharpee) as I built them... Trying to dig out and replace wax foundation was one task that prompted me to switch to plastic foundations last year!

From your photos, these frames look fine to me.

[Jacobs]

I tend to replace older dark frames that have some pollen stored in them if they are over 5 years old. I don't have freezer space for them to possibly keep the pollen in good shape. If I don't keep them in a freezer, they need to be stored with Paramoth to protect from waxmoth. The pollen won't be good and bees will need to remove it to use the cells. That makes these frames the best candidates for cycling out in my opinion. Older dark open drawn comb gets used longer. I may use it in bait hives or as starter frames for newly captured swarms. I may also use them in the first honey supers on in a hive where I plan on extracting honey. I want to reduce old comb in brood areas to try and improve health, but rightly or wrongly, I don't view them as being as large a health threat in honey supers. Dark comb does seem considerably harder to uncap with a regular knife when extracting honey.