Celotex insulation

[Millet]

Thank you million's for them picture's.. very much appreciated..

 

[BeeJayBee]

Out of interest, has anybody tried painting Reticel, Celotex or Kingspan, so hives would be less shiny, and so less visible in an out-apiary?

 

[SiOakleaf]

As it is aluminium foil coated I would assume a metal primer would be needed then it could be top coated with a paint of choice. Purely guessing, never actually tried it though.

 

[user 6228]

Out of interest, has anybody tried painting Reticel, Celotex or Kingspan, so hives would be less shiny, and so less visible in an out-apiary?

yes - standard gloss paint the first prototypes were painted green i.m sure you could use matt and do camoflage

 

[Erichalfbee]

I might try that.
Magpies have been having a go at my cosies.

 

[Millet]

There appears to be an element of confusion here.

The thread is talking about Celotex, Kingspan, Reticel foil covered foam insulation.
Correx is a twin wall plastic sheet.
But I don't want you go way more confused than we all are.

Derek has built a hive out of the material in question, post 8 in this thread.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=500253#post500253

Different thread but the same principal ..
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=35043

 

[user 6228]

I might try that.
Magpies have been having a go at my cosies.

Our magpies dont do that, had a little pecking from blue tits this year. (frustrated cream drinkers?)
The Wood peckers have left them alone.

 

[madasafish]

Out of interest, has anybody tried painting Reticel, Celotex or Kingspan, so hives would be less shiny, and so less visible in an out-apiary?

I paint all mine:
Hammerite works very well and adheres to the aluminium so one coat (thick) is OK> I use Green - Hammerite Garage Paint. (ebay - cheap)
I also use Coloroll Garden Shades. This is water based so occasionally does not adhere to parts - so second coat is needed. Once dry, it lasts 2-3 years especially on sides.
I find domestic gloss paints tend to peel with age so do not use them - and they are expensive.

I only buy paint when reduced- Asda now have Coloroll 1 liter cans at £6 instead of £10..

 

[Madge]

yes - standard gloss paint the first prototypes were painted green i.m sure you could use matt and do camoflage

Derek, is that a picture of a hive you've made, or a cosy?
Kitta

 

[user 6228]

Derek, is that a picture of a hive you've made, or a cosy?
Kitta

Thats the first hive I made in Recticel back in 2011. The design details have changed quite a bit since then.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Thats the first hive I made in Recticel back in 2011. The design details have changed quite a bit since then.

Derek do you experiment in PIR sandwiched in ply?

 

[user 6228]

Derek do you experiment in PIR sandwiched in ply?

nope...
adds alot of weight (relatively) unless very thin, and you can lose a lot of heat unless you are very careful because of thermal bridging.

 

[pargyle]

Out of interest, has anybody tried painting Reticel, Celotex or Kingspan, so hives would be less shiny, and so less visible in an out-apiary?

Yep ... Just used Shades the same as I do on the hives .. works a treat ... no primer needed just a couple of coats. (well - three actually but I'm a bit fussy !).

This is one that I made that actually sits over a timber Super I made and the standard Paynes roof sits on top .. over winter the super didn't have frames in it - it just sat on the top of the crown board with 100mm of Celotex in it.

It's the same cosy that I also used for my solar wax extractor in the summer !

Seen through one winter and a summer and the paint is still adhered and no sign of deterioration in colour.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/125609724@N03/albums/72157648733313429

 

[Thymallus]

I'm puzzled here. Why make a wooden super and add to a poly brood box then add insulation to the wooden super. What is wrong with simply using the insulation from a poly roof on top of a poly hive?

 

[pargyle]

I'm puzzled here. Why make a wooden super and add to a poly brood box then add insulation to the wooden super. What is wrong with simply using the insulation from a poly roof on top of a poly hive?

Welll ... If you must know ... I needed to add a feeder to a poly hive at the end of last season and as you probably know the feeders won't fit under the Paynes poly roof.... so, being poverty stricken at the time, but having some redundant pine shelves, I knocked up a super from them in order to put a feeder on the hive. The Paynes roofs are fine but as winter was coming along I decided that some additional insulation on the top of the hive would be beneficial so ... I put 100mm of Kingspan in the super and then made a cosy to go on the outside of the super which serves four purposes:

A. It insulates the sides of the timber super.
B. It keeps the rain off the timber over winter (it being made of pine)
C. It allowed me to put 100mm of Kingspan on top of the crown board
D. It increased the size of the super to the point where precipitation would drip off the edge of the bonnet and not run down to the joint between super and brood box.

Happy now ???

 

[Thymallus]

Happy now ???

Stop being so prickly. It was a genuine question and you end up answering it with a snide remark.....Thanks for the information, it just struck me as a daft thing to do, but I understand necessity and finances. If you can't afford any poly supers it makes sense. But why not remove it for the winter?
I have a couple of the large poly miller feeders that fit under the roof, but these come off after I'm happy they have enough winter stores.

 

[pargyle]

Stop being so prickly. It was a genuine question and you end up answering it with a snide remark.....Thanks for the information, it just struck me as a daft thing to do, but I understand necessity and finances. If you can't afford any poly supers it makes sense. But why not remove it for the winter?
I have a couple of the large poly miller feeders that fit under the roof, but these come off after I'm happy they have enough winter stores.

The Paynes Poly roofs are not that thick ... I notice that there is more heat retained in the hive when there is a good thick slab of Kingspan on there as well .. so ... all my hives this winter will have an empty super on top with Kingspan slabs in there. I've got enough poly supers this year to use poly ones so there won't be a need for the pine one and its bonnet.

Kingspan usually costs me nothing as I'm an inveterate skip diver so there's no cost to that and IMO and from my observations .. it does help the bees.

 

[Thymallus]

The Paynes Poly roofs are not that thick .

They seem to be thick enough for good heat retention. I have bees strolling around over the frame tops in the coldest of weathers. I've never tried anything thicker...they will probably be seen with sunglasses on sitting in deckchairs come mid December if gets any hotter . We need Derek to give us some facts on thickness of roofs and heat retention. I guess like double glazing triple glazing is better.
What I have seen with poly hives is a vast reduction in the amount of stores used , compared to wooden. So much so I'm at a loss to judge how much stores they need for overwintering in poly hives. I'm having to remove frames of stores each spring to give the queen room to lay.

 

[pargyle]

They seem to be thick enough for good heat retention. I have bees strolling around over the frame tops in the coldest of weathers. I've never tried anything thicker...they will probably be seen with sunglasses on sitting in deckchairs come mid December if gets any hotter . We need Derek to give us some facts on thickness of roofs and heat retention. I guess like double glazing triple glazing is better.
What I have seen with poly hives is a vast reduction in the amount of stores used , compared to wooden. So much so I'm at a loss to judge how much stores they need for overwintering in poly hives. I'm having to remove frames of stores each spring to give the queen room to lay.

I can only agree with that ...mine are 14 x 12 and I too had several frames of stores left in the hives in spring .. they did come in handy when I split my long hive as starters for the new colonies. But... I found the same with my Long Hive which is also heavily insulated ... I took four frames out of that in Spring all capped and surplus to their requirements at that stage.

 

[Thymallus]

Steady on lad! I'll be sending you an autographed queen if you aren't careful
There may be differences in poly thickness and heat retention. But when it snowed up here last winter it stayed on the roofs and no melt, which suggest (to me at least) that the Paynes poly hive roofs are thick enough.