# Duragilt foundation- experience



## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

Hello, I have always used beeswax foundation and wired. I a few frames of duragilt in some of my supers that were already drawn out. I was wanting to get some more supers and frames ready for later this year and was thinking about using duragilt to save the time of wiring. I was wondering if anyone has any experience, good or bad on using duragilt foundation. 
Thanks in advance. I sure do enjoy beesource and learn alot.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

There has been a bit of discussion on Duraguilt on this forum. If you use the search option you will soon be over whelmed most likely. I've used it with good and bad out comes. Timing the introduction seems to be the key. Flow on or bees willing to take syrup. It must be in the frame correctly and not move once placed in position. Seems when the heat of the bees hits it, it can buckle and it can be a useless mess. JMO,,,, I've had better results with Rite Cell. I'm in the process of getting off the foundation band wagon though. Just the path I'm taking 
Rick


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

You will hear screams of horror about duragilt but it a good foundation if managed properly. You must choose the correct frame so it does not get bowed in your frame. Grooved top and bottom bars are normally what it is used with but I like wedge top bars and grooved bottom bars myself. You need to be careful and not handle it in cold weather or the wax coating can pop off leaving you with a bald spot on the frame that the bees will not use again unless you paint it with hot wax so they can adhere cells to it again. Like all foundation, it is best drawn on a good flow. Draw it a whole box at a time, do not mix it in with drawn frames or the bees will not draw it correctly. That can be said of all foundation. Absolutely the best way to get perfect brood frames is to put individual frames in between two frames of capped brood. The plasticell sheets you put in are more expensive but if I was buying new I would actually go with them over the duragilt. I have 30 pounds of duragilt though and I will use it before buying something else.


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## Broke-T (Jul 9, 2008)

Run, do not walk, as far away from duragilt as possible. 

Johnny


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I bought a lot of it at one time (back in the 70s), well it was actually duracomb, but it's the same minus the metal tabs on the ends, and eventually used it all. The bees don't seem to like it very much and sometimes build "fins" off at right angles to it. I think it's because the underlying plastic is flat, and the bees want the bottom of the cell to be pyramidal (three sided, of course). The other issue, once they do use it, is that if they ever tear it down to the plastic they never rebuild it, they just make the facing comb thicker and that makes for very uneven comb.

If I had some, and it was the cell size I wanted, I might use it up. I would not buy it... there are better options available.


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## Laurence Hope (Aug 24, 2005)

I used some my first year in beekeeping. I knew less then about what I was doing than I do now (a little), but I didn't have very good results. I received about 4 boxes of it last year with some equipment I bought. I melted the wax off it and threw the rest away.


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

arcowandbeegirl said:


> Hello, I have always used beeswax foundation and wired. I a few frames of duragilt in some of my supers that were already drawn out. I was wanting to get some more supers and frames ready for later this year and was thinking about using duragilt to save the time of wiring. I was wondering if anyone has any experience, good or bad on using duragilt foundation.
> Thanks in advance. I sure do enjoy beesource and learn alot.




One thing is for sure and that is that you don't need to buy any. I still have some of this junk left over from 20 years ago. Its free ( in California) if you want to help me dig through all the piles of other worthless junk I seem to keep and know I will never use.

To Words>* NO & Garbage*...... Get my drift

Did I forget to say two other words..... *Bad news*


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

So what is the foundation that experienced beekeepers recommend?

And, what is the exact negative results of using Duragilt?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>what is the exact negative results of using Duragilt? 

Two results:

1) Bees reject it and try to build fins or a comb out from the surface rather than build on it.

2) When the bees chew it down to the plastic (and they will on occasion) they never build it back on the plastic. The results are that the facing comb gets built out very thick to fill the gap and the combs are very uneven and hard to work.


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## arcowandbeegirl (Oct 11, 2010)

So good to know!! Thanks so much everyone for the info!! I appreciate your experience and input!


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

That was the answer I needed.

My mentor uses Duragilt and has for years. He never mentioned any problems with it. And he never rotates it out. I was in his shop today, he was building some new hives and getting ready to clean up some old Duragilt frames he had used years ago when he run a full size apiary to put in the new hives. The frames were stained a nice dark brown and the foundation still looked good.

My original foundation is Kelley wired sheets. I have a few frames of foundationless they pulled out last fall. I did buy some deep all plastic and pierco frames to try in a new hive this spring and plan on ordering some more pierco for the wooden frames I am making in the next few weeks. I really don't know at this stage what will work, but I will try several to make my own decisions.


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## Jim 134 (Dec 1, 2007)

I got a box (25lbs) of Duragilt about 25 years a go I will never use Duragilt again...... 




BEE HAPPY Jim 134


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I drew out about 11,000 frames of it my first go at beekeeping and I found it no worse than the alterantives. LIke I said before, it requires a little different management thats all. If you like simple just get mann lake plastic frames. Cheap and easy. I don't have any real trouble getting them drawn out either.


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## AstroBee (Jan 3, 2003)

Another bad experience with duragilt here. With so many good choices, I'm not sure why anyone would chose it. Sure you can make it work, but why would you with all the potential downsides? I do not like assembling frames, so my preferred frame/foundation choice is the preassembled wood frames with Rite-Cell foundation from Mann Lake. I'm sure the Brushy or dadant equivalent is about the same. Also, I do not like the one-piece plastic frames, aka pf-XXX from Mann Lake.


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## DigiKit (May 16, 2013)

My ladies are not digging the Duragilt Foundation.


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## John Beese (Apr 2, 2016)

I have tons of duraglit foundation in the box not going to use mostly deep some medium
If someone's looking for some I'd make a heck of a deal. In watertown, ny


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## zhiv9 (Aug 3, 2012)

It's terrible. Rite cell or waxed plastic frames like the PF100's are much better.


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