Getting prepared advice!

[isitafox]

This could be a long one so feel free to skip to the bottom!
Basically I got a NUC off a friend last Summer (mid July), swapped into a National hive and it ended up re-queening at the end of September. As a result the brood never got strong enough to fill the hive and it was touch and go whether or not they'd survive the Winter.

Now the sun has started to appear over the last few weeks there has been signs of life, dead bees being cleared from the hive and a lot of pollen being collected last week, so I'm confident that things are on the way up so I want to prepare for the coming year.

So the questions I have...
I currently just have a wooden National Brood box so will need some supers (not saying it's going to be a mad harvest, they may just spend the year growing into the hive but just in case) and I was thinking of changing over to poly hives so wondered if anyone here had used poly supers on a wooden brood?
Eventually I'd want to swap the brood box to poly also but funds are relatively tight so I can't splash on a full hive, which is also why I'm looking at poly kit as it's almost half what a wooden super would cost me!
Any help would be awesome as I want to get well prepared before everything sells out!

 

[pargyle]

Poly supers generally will not fit well on the top of most timber hives ... you will find that they are normally larger in the external dimensions than the timber hive body so you get a biggish overhang... if you want to mix and match timber and poly theres a couple of poly suppliers whose poly brood boxes are compatible with timber supers but vice versa might give you a problem... someone will have a solution to the problem no doubt.

If you are moving to poly you need to be sure whose poly hives you are going to use as ... again... different poly suppliers hives are not always compatible with one another... get it right to start with it or you are building up problems for the future. Perhaps look for some seconds supers in timber in the sales that are currently going on and bite the bullet in January when the poly hive sales tend to occur... stick with timber this year... sell a bit of your honey crop and reinvest in a couple of complete poly hives for next season ?

 

[Ian123]

1 important question did you treat for varroa at any point. Pick up some supers/frames in currently running sales is your best bet, there’s normally some a little later. But don’t get caught short ending up paying full wack! You may also want a couple of extra brood boxes and a floor........it tends to go like that

 

[Erichalfbee]

I run swienty and Abelo poly with some wooden broods. Half my supers are poly Swienty and half wood and I use both on either brood.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

This could be a long one so feel free to skip to the bottom!
Basically I got a NUC off a friend last Summer (mid July), swapped into a National hive and it ended up re-queening at the end of September. As a result the brood never got strong enough to fill the hive and it was touch and go whether or not they'd survive the Winter.

Now the sun has started to appear over the last few weeks there has been signs of life, dead bees being cleared from the hive and a lot of pollen being collected last week, so I'm confident that things are on the way up so I want to prepare for the coming year.

So the questions I have...
I currently just have a wooden National Brood box so will need some supers (not saying it's going to be a mad harvest, they may just spend the year growing into the hive but just in case) and I was thinking of changing over to poly hives so wondered if anyone here had used poly supers on a wooden brood?
Eventually I'd want to swap the brood box to poly also but funds are relatively tight so I can't splash on a full hive, which is also why I'm looking at poly kit as it's almost half what a wooden super would cost me!
Any help would be awesome as I want to get well prepared before everything sells out!

Abelo's standard national poly hive boxes fit perfectly well on top of wooden national hive brood boxes and vice versa national wooden hive boxes sit on Abelo poly brood boxes and wooden supers.

 

[isitafox]

I've just actually looked at the Abelo stuff and for what I was looking at for a couple of supers and some frames/foundation I could spend a little more and get a full hive so i may just go down that route now

 

[pargyle]

Abelo's standard national poly hive boxes fit perfectly well on top of wooden national hive brood boxes and vice versa national wooden hive boxes sit on Abelo poly brood boxes and wooden supers.

There you go... looks like the OP has his answer and will be using Abelo polys as his chosen supplier.... I still like my Paynes Polys even if they are useless with timber bits ...

 

[ericbeaumont]

I've just actually looked at the Abelo stuff

You can't go wrong with Abelo boxes; gets a bit tricky with floors, crownboards and roofs because they have two designs - no, three - and not all parts are interchangeable.

The old Abelo National design has a deep overhanging roof and a fiddly five-hole crownboard; the new design has flush-fitting roof integrated by a lip to a less fiddly single-hole crownboard. The two designs of roof and crownboard are not compatible.

The newest new Abelo National is a 12-frame top beespace hive with a footprint larger than standard 460mm square National, which may be ideal for a start-up but not if you already have standard kit.

Do you need the expensive crownboard and floor? I use instead the Abelo poly Ashforth feeder as a crownboard, syrup feeder, fondant feeder and split board, so the money goes further. Floors can be made cheaply.

 

[Erichalfbee]

The newest new Abelo National is a 12-frame top beespace hive with a footprint larger than standard 460mm square National, which may be ideal for a start-up but not if you already have standard kit.

So the old deep roof doesn't fit on it?
Abelo are nigh on making my perfect hive...the trouble is all the bits don't fit

 

[ericbeaumont]

So the old deep roof doesn't fit on it?

The old deep roof is standard 460mm National, but the new 12 frame National has a 490mm footprint.

 

[The Poot]

Remember the very latest Abelo is top bee space - the others are bottom bee space - you will need compatibility with what you already have.
The “old model” Abelo is an excellent product (imo) and fully compatible with National wooden boxes and the fiddly bits to do with the crown board are easily fixed with a bit of glue.

 

[isitafox]

Yeah I like the old version with the deep roof but also like the slimline roof version with the better crownboard.
But also the newer floor with the slimline version is supposed to have a better varroa tray setup.
Will probably go for the slim roof setup, it's over £100 for a couple of supers and frames so I may as well pay another £100 and get the lot. Just have to keep it strapped up tight to keep the rain out!

 

[Antipodes]

This could be a long one so feel free to skip to the bottom!
Basically I got a NUC off a friend last Summer (mid July), swapped into a National hive and it ended up re-queening at the end of September. As a result the brood never got strong enough to fill the hive and it was touch and go whether or not they'd survive the Winter.

Now the sun has started to appear over the last few weeks there has been signs of life, dead bees being cleared from the hive and a lot of pollen being collected last week, so I'm confident that things are on the way up so I want to prepare for the coming year.

So the questions I have...
I currently just have a wooden National Brood box so will need some supers (not saying it's going to be a mad harvest, they may just spend the year growing into the hive but just in case) and I was thinking of changing over to poly hives so wondered if anyone here had used poly supers on a wooden brood?
Eventually I'd want to swap the brood box to poly also but funds are relatively tight so I can't splash on a full hive, which is also why I'm looking at poly kit as it's almost half what a wooden super would cost me!
Any help would be awesome as I want to get well prepared before everything sells out!

They should go well with the good young autumn queen.

 

[oliver90owner]

The old deep roof is standard 460mm National, but the new 12 frame National has a 490mm footprint

It may accommodate National frames bit it is not a BS National hive. Simple as that.

 

[ericbeaumont]

It may accommodate National frames bit it is not a BS National hive. Simple as that.

I agree, and the pity is that not many these days (esp. poly hive designers) know the value of standardisation and compatibility given by BS.

 

[Arfermo]

Abelo's standard national poly hive boxes fit perfectly well on top of wooden national hive brood boxes and vice versa national wooden hive boxes sit on Abelo poly brood boxes and wooden supers.

So do the Swienty ones - or at the one I got from Wynne Jones when they had nothing else in stock last year does. Only takes 10 frames though 'cos poly is thicker than wood - BUT that is not a problem anyway. Still much prefer cedar by a very long chalk anyway especially if seconds!!

 

[Martimart]

Being new to this beekeeping game it’s surprised me how many beekeepers are using poly hives. When everyone is trying to reduce or end plastic use, it seems the opposite is true with beekeeping and cedar hives are declining and the poly hives increasing.

I’m not a eco fanatic at all but it does strike me as odd that a poly hive once damaged and thrown away will never decompose in over 100 years, the microscopic chemicals it could be infecting bees and honey with over time?

each to their own.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Being new to this beekeeping game it’s surprised me how many beekeepers are using poly hives. When everyone is trying to reduce or end plastic use, it seems the opposite is true with beekeeping and cedar hives are declining and the poly hives increasing.

I’m not a eco fanatic at all but it does strike me as odd that a poly hive once damaged and thrown away will never decompose in over 100 years, the microscopic chemicals it could be infecting bees and honey with over time?

each to their own.

Bees do better in poly
(Tin hat)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

and how many beekeepers just 'throw away' a poly hive when it gets a few dinks?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Bees do better in poly
(Tin hat)

I've got a couple of plastic builders hard hats.