Laurence Edwards tests whether spraying unwaxed plastic frames with propolis tincture gets bees to draw out foundation as well as pre-waxed frames do. He dissolves propolis in strong alcohol, filters it, sprays it on the frames, then puts them in a colony to see if the bees will work with them.
On my previous video showing you the fully formed plastic frames from Frames and Feeders, somebody commented on that post and gave me a really good tip if you're getting these that are not waxed. They said they've had great success using these without waxing them, but spraying them with a propolis tincture, and then the bees take to them really well, just the same way as if they'd been pre-waxed. Never going to be as quick because you're not giving the bees the wax to work with, but I thought it would be a really neat experiment to see if we spray these with propolis tincture, which I do have available, to see if the bees will actually work these and draw out the plastic frames. So here's my propolis tincture. I made this using very high-strength alcohol broken down with propolis, cleared it all out, and I've got it in a really cool little spray bottle. You can spray it in your throat, great for coating your throat as well. Helps against coughs and any infections. Let's see if it's any good for getting the bees to draw out plastic foundation. Right, so there we go. My plastic frames from Frames and Feeders are now coated in a propolis tincture. The smell is absolutely incredible. Like, I really do love propolis. I love finding different uses for it. Just smelling it though is making me feel really nice. Healthy. I'll pop these into a colony, I'll give them a couple of weeks, I'll give them a feed, and we'll see whether the bees have drawn them out. If you want to see the results of this experiment, definitely hit the subscribe button. I'll post up the video in a few weeks.
