Mating nucs?

[For want of a better word]

They are Swi-bines,much the same size as the Apidea, they work well,but i do find them to be too small really.

Chinese manufactured.
marketed by another as SWi Bines
I have a mere 15 of them
Take 900g of fondant
Door has a habit of sliding down on own unless pinned up.
polly definitely needs a coat of paint.
not equipped with a qe for entrance that can be a pain.
easy to fill with bees as bottom slides open.
need to fix a top plastic film cover

cheap alternative to Apidea or Keiler .... my choice if a lottery winner !)

£13.50 from Buzz? at moment.. expect his price will come down now !

I paid £10 each inc special air mail delivery from Schetwan.. included a free gift of a bent bit of bamboo I still have not worked out what it is for !

​

 

[Hivemaker.]

£13.50 from Buzz? at moment.. expect his price will come down now !
[/CENTER]

Or he sells them for £69.99 for six,same as the e bay advert.

They come with a clear ventilated inner plastic cover.

 

[For want of a better word]

They come with a clear ventilated inner plastic cover.



mine didn't.... I got a bit of bamboo instead !

 

[fatshark]

cheap alternative to Apidea or Keiler .... my choice if a lottery winner !)

I think Kielers are about £12 and you can make the top bars out of strip wood to save yourself a couple of quid.

So no need for the lottery win

 

[Hivemaker.]

I think Kielers are about £12 and you can make the top bars out of strip wood to save yourself a couple of quid.

You can get Kielers for £9 each if you buy enough of them...cheaper still if you buy a few more

Phasing out all of my the poly mating nucs over the next couple of years in favour of the wooden ones,the whole operating system is much better and more efficient.

 

[fatshark]

I am a mere amateur, working on an amateur scale

 

[Hawklord]

Would a half size national super be big nough or too big to use as a mating nuc?

 

[For want of a better word]

Would a half size national super be big nough or too big to use as a mating nuc?

possibly too big... the cupful of brood bees would be a bit lost!

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I struggled a bit with my mating nucs this year. I prefer Keiler over Apideas through I have both. I do wish they did a top feeder for the Keiler though rather than my DIY one. The entrance of my Apideas has been nibbled. I have had a bit more success with a wooden mating nuc from Abelo

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Top-Bar-M..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item3f138b878b

It was a nice easy size to handle. The best success I had was with these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Plus..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item416a38003f

The flimsy supplied plastic frames needed replacing (now supplied with proper wooden frames). These hives are much bigger but are flexible (moveable brood / floor / roof / top ashford feeder). You can even get plastic frames that clip together to make them into a LS Medium! The frames are basically half LS medium. They are a suitable size that the colonies can be over wintered and can have multiple brood boxes.

Small boxes have their place in the height of summer with their requirement with low bee numbers but having tried a few now I prefer larger units like the Keiler and Mini plus.

 

[Poly Hive]

My Keilers are over 20 years old and some a fair bit older than that as Bernard gave them to me.

They are at least as tough as the best poly sold now if not in fact a bit harder.

PH

 

[mbc]

My Keilers are over 20 years old and some a fair bit older than that as Bernard gave them to me.

They are at least as tough as the best poly sold now if not in fact a bit harder.

PH

I have some two years old which need a bit of filler round the entrance where the bees have chewed a bit, maybe the poly density has dropped over the years.
Agree with Nic about the mini plus hives, very flexible and user friendly unit, though I've fitted mine with a little sheet of polythene ( with a hole cut out for access to the feader) as a crown board as there's no bee space between the top of the frames and the bottom of the feeder or roof.