The newbie beekeeper is faced with an important decision when first embarking on their beekeeping journey: 

To use foundation or go au naturel.

(That is, foundationless.)

Matters are only further complicated when the young hobbyist finds fervent opinions from both sides of the aisle. The majority of articles on this topic aim to persuade one way or the other, and it can be difficult to fairly weigh the consequences of each route.

Which is why, in this article, we aim to lay out a (mostly) neutral list of the pros and cons of both methods for the backyard beekeeper.

Of course, we don’t pretend to ignore the fact that we make foundation here at Premier Bee Products. We fully and unabashedly believe in the benefits of healthy, quality foundation for both the bee and its keeper. 

But we certainly recognize some of the rewards beekeepers enjoy by going foundationless, which is why we hope to shed unpolluted light on the subject in this comprehensive breakdown.

Before we dive any deeper, let’s all get on the same page with what we’re talking about. 

(If this is elementary to you, feel free to hop to the next section.)

In modern beekeeping with Langstroth hives, beekeepers incorporate rectangular frames into their hives as a point of origin in which the bees will start to draw their comb.

Foundationless beekeeping ends here. This hollow frame (usually of wooden material) is all a beekeeper will place in their hive, and bees will subsequently build their comb from the top of the frame downwards.

Foundation takes it one step further in that a thin, plastic sheet sits inside of this wooden frame. The foundation comes imprinted with hexagonally-shaped cells, giving bees a familiar base upon which to begin drawing their comb.

Got it? Great. 

Let’s get to the good stuff.

Foundationless beekeeping is fairly prevalent among hobbyists, and for several reasons. Here are a few of the main ones:

1. Au naturel, baby.

Let’s face it: Part of the joy of beekeeping is the harmony a person experiences with nature as they work with a colony and harvest its natural products.

There is no purer way to experience this than through foundationless beekeeping. Placing a few wooden frames inside a hive body and watching bees create something out of nothing is truly a marvel.

2. Comb wax is generally cleaner.

If your main focus in beekeeping is to harvest wax for cosmetic products or similar, you probably won’t be able to find cleaner wax than if you let your bees draw it out completely on their own. 

We say this with a caveat: Not all foundation is built or coated with the same quality of wax. 

For example, while standard plastic foundation is coated with regular comb wax (usually several years old), Premier Foundation is coated in only the purest, most virgin capping wax available from A.H. Meyer & Sons — the nationwide leaders in beeswax rendering. 

By regularly rotating your foundation, the wax you harvest can be as clean (if not cleaner) than wax pulled without foundation. The key factor in harvesting clean, white wax is the age of the comb — not its base.

All this to say, wax content is highly conditional. 

If your bees are foraging in an agriculturally-dominant environment with a heavy use of pesticides, the wax they draw may not be so clean in reality.

Do your research on the chemicals used in your surroundings and the quality of wax you might incorporate from outside sources.

3. Costs can be saved.

Foundation isn’t free, and a beekeeper can save some cash by foregoing this cost altogether. 

Never a bad thing to keep money in the pocket!

While on the surface it may appear that foundationless beekeeping is the purest way to keep bees, there are several downsides for both the human and the bee that may not support this notion.

Let’s discuss a few.

1. Having to work with flimsy frames and cross comb.

With no solid base for support, natural comb can be a flimsy, delicate mess when it comes to inspection, transportation, and extraction. 

Any foundationless beekeeper has experienced the disheartening feeling of collapsed comb. 

On top of this, cross comb and unlevel comb create an abundance of issues for the beekeeper. Cross comb occurs when bees draw comb across several adjacent frames, leading to difficulty during hive inspections and reduced space for the bees to occupy. 

And since bees are therefore without a “roadmap” on which to draw their comb, they naturally draw from the top-down in concert with gravity. If a hive body is slightly off-kilter, the beekeeper will have to constantly level their hive to ensure the frames are perfectly parallel.

Quite a nuisance.

2. Tedious activities for the beekeeper.

There’s no escaping it.

Foundation was invented for a reason, and that reason was primarily the convenience of the beekeeper.

Just as we have already mentioned, wonky, flimsy comb leads to a significant increase in workload (and likely headaches) for the beekeeper. 

It is for these reasons and more that any beekeeper with a considerable hive count really has no choice but to incorporate foundation in their operation.

3. Lack of foundation places more stress on bees.

By not giving them a head start in their comb construction, bees are now required to spend more time foraging for nectar and pollen in order to produce more wax content.

This unnecessary stress can lead to weakened immune systems and possibly shorter lifespans for the workers than if they had spent more time with the colony.

Now that we’ve discussed the pros and cons of foundationless beekeeping at length, let’s take a look at the other side of the debate.

1. Convenience for the beekeeper.

As we mentioned before, foundation was developed chiefly for the convenience of the beekeeper.

Life without foundation simply became too difficult and time consuming (for all the reasons mentioned above), and beekeepers needed an efficient way to inspect, handle, and extract honey from these frames.

2. Convenience for the bees.

[Shameless plug alert.]

Wait. I thought bees prefer to build from scratch?

Traditionally, this has been true. Standard foundations have historically been coated in weak-smelling, contaminated wax, which can be harmful for the bees and turn them away from ever desiring to pull comb.

Premier Foundation, on the other hand, is all about serving the bees.

By creating a foundation with more accurate cell dimensions and cleaner, more generous wax coatings, bees show no hesitation in taking to Premier Foundation.

So how does this provide convenience for the bees?

The beauty in utilizing a foundation beloved by bees is that the workload of the entire colony immediately diminishes.

For the bees, this means less time spent picking up potentially harmful chemicals in the environment and more time making honey and rearing their brood.

That’s what we at Premier Bee call a win-win.

3. Potential to be healthier for the overall colony.

With a reduced workload, the colony now spends less time picking up potentially harmful chemicals in the open environment and more time producing honey and raising brood.

There’s no question that in today’s scarce environment, bees are having to work harder than ever to supply food for the hive.

By providing bees with a healthy head start, overall productivity and condition can only stand to expand.

There has to be some reason why beekeepers choose not to use foundation, right?

To that, we typically refer to point #1 in our list of pros on foundationless beekeeping — “au naturel.” 

Some beekeepers love a bare-bones approach to beekeeping, even if it requires more time and chores on their end.

After all, this is a labor of love.

But standard foundation certainly has its cons, too. 

It’s been proven that the wax content coated on traditional plastic foundation contains pesticides from the old comb wax from which it's rendered. 

Additionally, the dimensions of the cell walls are thicker than what bees naturally produce, leading to an unnecessary increase in wax production from the bees and reduced heat transfer between cells.

At Premier Bee, we set out to fix all this. 

Because of these unfortunate findings on existing plastic foundations, our team of beekeepers and engineers set out to build a product for the bees — a better foundation.

As we wrap things up, we want to remind you that beekeeping is meant to be fun.

Whichever of these two routes you pursue in your beekeeping endeavors, you will have no regrets by simply diving in.

What matters most is a simple commitment to keeping your bees happy and healthy.

It’s also important to keep in mind that your decision is never permanent! Most beekeepers (ourselves included) will recommend that a new beekeeper begin with foundation installed in their hives, as the alternative can be quite nuanced for a beginner.

Our aim is to instill confidence in beekeepers through complete transparency on the products in their hives. Should you have any questions on the materials or processes used in Premier Foundation, feel free to explore our website further or contact our team.

Happy beekeeping!