Lyson Rebate

[Ely]

Hi. I am suffering with upper back trouble and I am thinking about buying a few polyhives. I like the look of Lyson langstroths and honey paw langstroths. The lyson looks great apart from the rebates. Are there any people on here that have those hives that can share their experience with the rebates. My concern is crushing more bees with that system. I would normally put a box on at an angle and twist into position, brushing bees out of the way. The rebate looks like the bees could be in the recess when the two boxes come together. It would be great to hear from people with experience with honey paw also. Thanks!

 

[Jimmy]

I don't want to be a gloomster or a doomster but the difference between poly box weight and wooden box weight is marginal when the frames are full of honey.
One option that might be worth considering is a double brood paynes polynuc. 12 frames gives you a comparable brood area to a single national brood box. You could have additional brood boxs as your supers, above a queen excluder obviously.
I'd also recommend doing some pilates/core strength. I've done more core exercises in the last 18 months just as a change in exercise routine and it's surprising how things that I would consider unrelated have benefitted.

 

[Ely]

I don't want to be a gloomster or a doomster but the difference between poly box weight and wooden box weight is marginal when the frames are full of honey.
One option that might be worth considering is a double brood paynes polynuc. 12 frames gives you a comparable brood area to a single national brood box. You could have additional brood boxs as your supers, above a queen excluder obviously.
I'd also recommend doing some pilates/core strength. I've done more core exercises in the last 18 months just as a change in exercise routine and it's surprising how things that I would consider unrelated have benefitted.

Thank you for the advice

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hi. I am suffering with upper back trouble and I am thinking about buying a few polyhives. I like the look of Lyson langstroths and honey paw langstroths. The lyson looks great apart from the rebates. Are there any people on here that have those hives that can share their experience with the rebates. My concern is crushing more bees with that system. I would normally put a box on at an angle and twist into position, brushing bees out of the way. The rebate looks like the bees could be in the recess when the two boxes come together. It would be great to hear from people with experience with honey paw also. Thanks!

Stick with the mk1 Lyson National hives and you don't have that problem.

 

[thorn]

I don't want to be a gloomster or a doomster but the difference between poly box weight and wooden box weight is marginal when the frames are full of honey.
One option that might be worth considering is a double brood paynes polynuc. 12 frames gives you a comparable brood area to a single national brood box. You could have additional brood boxs as your supers, above a queen excluder obviously.
I'd also recommend doing some pilates/core strength. I've done more core exercises in the last 18 months just as a change in exercise routine and it's surprising how things that I would consider unrelated have benefitted.

For me, the difference is appreciable.
But I'm with you on core exercises. I've started going to a local weight-lifting gym and really notice how much easier it is to lift full boxes.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Lyson langstroths and honey paw langstroths

If you do go down that road, I had a trial of a Honey Paw and found it well-designed and well made.

 

[Ely]

If you do go down that road, I had a trial of a Honey Paw and found it well-designed and well made.

I do like the look of those. The ventilated floor and migratory roof options look pretty good.

 

[Swampie]

I have a bad back too and had this same discussion a couple of years ago. As coincidence would have it, I settled on the Lyson Langstroth, of which I am running four. I also tried the double decker 8 frame Paynes poly nuc to start, running two.

Firstly on the double nucs. The bees did well in these, but while in theory, the idea looked perfect, I found them difficult to manage, Mainly because they are not quite as will made as the full hives. The frames were a very tight fit and difficult to move, so after wrestling through the top box, pissing off bees and beekeeper, I was often too irritated to bother with the bottom one. The polystyrene itself is also significantly softer than the Lyson and Honeypaw boxes and was getting quite mangled after a year of use. They also dont have a nice range of fitting accesories, Like an eke or full feeder. I wouldnt go back to them as hives, but have happily converted them into swarm traps and temporary split accomodation.

I have really enjoyed the Lyson Langs and dont regret a thing about them. They are 9 frames, so when full will still be 10% lighter than the Honeypaw. They are well made and have been flawless in performance. I dont find the recess a problem, but a do make a point of giving the rim a puff of smoke to clear it before closing. I might crush a single bee per hive? maybe? On the downside, I think they're a little more expensive than the alternatives and some might want that extra frame.

I was also looking at the Honeypaw. And am still considering one for next year, despite liking the Lyson. My reason here is that it comes in a 10 frame standard, which is precisely double the width of the four frame nucs and I quite like the idea of experimenting with running two nuc boxes on top of the brood box as supers or alternatively being a useful way of running a bouble brood to split three ways and so on. The versitility of having the four frame nuc fit onto the main brood box and under the full feeder and roof really appeals to me. Plus it looks like better value than the Lyson. But either way, I would still happily buy more Lysons, regardless of any side flirtations with the Honeypaw.

 

[Ely]

I have a bad back too and had this same discussion a couple of years ago. As coincidence would have it, I settled on the Lyson Langstroth, of which I am running four. I also tried the double decker 8 frame Paynes poly nuc to start, running two.

Firstly on the double nucs. The bees did well in these, but while in theory, the idea looked perfect, I found them difficult to manage, Mainly because they are not quite as will made as the full hives. The frames were a very tight fit and difficult to move, so after wrestling through the top box, pissing off bees and beekeeper, I was often too irritated to bother with the bottom one. The polystyrene itself is also significantly softer than the Lyson and Honeypaw boxes and was getting quite mangled after a year of use. They also dont have a nice range of fitting accesories, Like an eke or full feeder. I wouldnt go back to them as hives, but have happily converted them into swarm traps and temporary split accomodation.

I have really enjoyed the Lyson Langs and dont regret a thing about them. They are 9 frames, so when full will still be 10% lighter than the Honeypaw. They are well made and have been flawless in performance. I dont find the recess a problem, but a do make a point of giving the rim a puff of smoke to clear it before closing. I might crush a single bee per hive? maybe? On the downside, I think they're a little more expensive than the alternatives and some might want that extra frame.

I was also looking at the Honeypaw. And am still considering one for next year, despite liking the Lyson. My reason here is that it comes in a 10 frame standard, which is precisely double the width of the four frame nucs and I quite like the idea of experimenting with running two nuc boxes on top of the brood box as supers or alternatively being a useful way of running a bouble brood to split three ways and so on. The versitility of having the four frame nuc fit onto the main brood box and under the full feeder and roof really appeals to me. Plus it looks like better value than the Lyson. But either way, I would still happily buy more Lysons, regardless of any side flirtations with the Honeypaw.

Hi. Thank you for the response. Definitely food for thought. If you put a super on at an angle on the Lyson, is the recess large enough for a bee to hide in? I've been looking at the honeypaw a fair bit, the Norfolk Honey company on YouTube has a series on them. I like the look of them. I do like the look of the hard plastic on the lyson where you put the hive tool to separate boxes. That should prevent wear. Cheers