We never vaseline anything. You do not really want the boxes sliding too easily as you worry every time there is a gale. New boxes do move a bit easily over eachother and are better after a seasons use. The lips though are an issue that never goes away and become a proper PITA after a while. Not talking from ignorance here, we have experimented with both, and the simple flat facing joint is better long term. Irrespective of the maker.
All bees will tend to do well in ANY poly hive, so long as it is made from durable enough material. How the bees do is not really a valid measure as most will perform in an alike manner whatoever amker or pattern you go for. the difference is actually mostly down to how the beekeeper gets on with them and how convenient and fast to use they are, plus his/her sense of aesthetics. (To me some of them are seriously ugly.)
As for vaselining the frame runners.............we HATE the frames sliding too easily on the plastic runners, and sometimes are forced to run a rasp across them to rough them a bit to stop that (when both frames and runners are new is worst). We do not have time to get a spirit level out every time we place a hive, and any sideslip at all the frames that are new and on plastic slide to one side, and can even, if one end moves, drop into the box diring examinations. Gnashing of teeth time.
The Swienty ones we use are made with runners. I would actually prefer the old style frame rests like in the original boxes PH uses and of which we have a few, where they are simply moulded with the poly at the correct level for the frames to rest directly on it (like most non UK wooden hives too, where runners are not normal). The frames slide fine on them when levered gently across with the hive tool, but there is sufficient resistance there for them not to set off on their own, or be too easy to shift.
PH is also correct about the varnishing. The bees do it themselves with a thin layer of propolis...........you cannot see it on the beads but they also try to smooth off the interior and varnish more thickly between the beads, and there is is plainly visible. They do not like the plastic material as their inner surface and thus put this skin on it. FWIW, if you think this is a 'See! the bees prefer wood!' moment, then no, they dont like wood either and do it just the same. I suspect its a hygeine issue, and varnishing it is a mechanism to avoid the nooks and crannies that unwelcome organisms could lurk in.
