Nuc boxes poly or cedar.

[Curly green fingers]

Im looking to buy six nuc boxes for next year and thinking I would get poly nucs.
I want to buy some that are strong and going to last.
Also if I'm only using 1 frame of eggs and 1 of capped brood two of stores with pollen and honey , would it be better to get 5 frame or 6 frame nucs.
Or should it be the above with two frames of capped brood which makes me think a 6 frame nuc would be better .
I've only got one wooden nuc this year but I used a dummed down BS nats hive not ideal really a lot of hassle .
Ideas thoughts.....

 

[BMH]

I would definitely go for poly nucs over cedar.

Will be plenty around in the sales.

My preference would be for 6 frame

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[Curly green fingers]

Any preference on make?

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[For want of a better word]

Any preference on make?

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I like the Paynes polly with the side feeder... not keen on the top feeders as awkward to handle if filled with syrup!

Chons da

 

[Poly Hive]

I don't like the built in feeders and sorry to say the Paynes design of the Nat is just horrid. So..

I invested my honey crop this year in four double brood nucs from Maismore. If I want to feed syrup I can use the frame feeders I also bought.

I took the separates for flexibility, so I have 4 x floors and roofs and 8 x broods.

Six frames is better as with a frame feeder in there are still now lets see... sucks pencil.. finds calculator and ah. 5 of brood.

They arrived beautifully packed and I am quite sure they will be working for someone else when I am long gone. A good quality bit of kit.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

I like the Paynes polly with the side feeder... not keen on the top feeders as awkward to handle if filled with syrup!

I agree... really like the built in feed compartment.

 

[BMH]

I have maisies and BS honey nucs and prefer the BS although they are compatible with one and other.

Love the silicone plug for feeding fondant and deep roof!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Any preference on make?

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I like the maisemore ones, I prefer the top feeders which I leave on in winter for extra insulation, I have quite a few of them and a few of the Paynes ones. The Maisies are usually on sale at the conventions, sometimes have a midwinter poly sale too, if you buy ten at any time there's a decent discount (and free postage), they're pretty robust - they do tend to get a bit of a bashing with me.
All the poly nucs I've seen come as six frame nucs, BS honeybees do one with two entrances that can be split into a 2 way mating nuc.

 

[Angry_Mob]

I have maisies and BS honey nucs and prefer the BS although they are compatible with one and other.

Love the silicone plug for feeding fondant and deep roof!

I have both as well as the BS honey bees are much better.

The poly is denser, the feeder is a much better design, the lid is about twice the thickness, can be split into two 3 frame nucs, the plug for feeding are all great benefits over the Maise ones.

 

[BMH]

Have to agree. Its superior in every way! Does cost a bit more but know where I will be spending my money in future.

One thing I HATE though is flimsey correx material. Needs to be a solid perspex in my opinion. Once the bees fill the void with crud it just crushes on itself

 

[thedozzer]

We bought a Maise and ended up with a friends Paynes, didn't like the Paynes because unless you have a float in the feeder it does drown a lot of bees, and if you have the little plastic divider to keep them out, some bees would find there way the wrong side. the Masie seamed to work better, but had a look at the BS ones at the National Honey Show and they looked really good, and at the show were a fantastic price.

 

[linoleum bonypart]

B.S honey bees nucs +1

 

[Into the lions den]

They are all good.

The thread does however illustrate the issues British makers face. Disparity of requirements brings high prices. In Italy...where as far as I can see they use ONE type albeit from more than one maker....they cost well under 10 quid.

We use Paynes, but the main reason is that that is what we started with. Dislike ALL kit that has associated 'bits'. Keep it simple........the BEES don't mind. The rest is an issue only for the beekeepers taste.

As for the bees drowning in the fixed feeder compartment? They supply the float with the box. Beekeepers are an odd bunch...have one client for nucs who dislikes the fixed feeder for the same reason...but then uses frame feeders in his hives. No logic there. One even cut out the feed compartment and made his own plywood frame feeders.

If you have lost the float it just underlines what I dislike about kit with all sorts of little plugs and parts......too many things to lose.

Too many of the versions of stuff around seems to have been designed to accommodate the plethora of grumblers and 'helpful' suggesters they meet at bee conventions............probably the very LAST folk they should be listening to. Like a committee of irreconcilable individualists.

 

[Tim1606]

They are all good.

The thread does however illustrate the issues British makers face. Disparity of requirements brings high prices. In Italy...where as far as I can see they use ONE type albeit from more than one maker....they cost well under 10 quid.

We use Paynes, but the main reason is that that is what we started with. Dislike ALL kit that has associated 'bits'. Keep it simple........the BEES don't mind. The rest is an issue only for the beekeepers taste.

As for the bees drowning in the fixed feeder compartment? They supply the float with the box. Beekeepers are an odd bunch...have one client for nucs who dislikes the fixed feeder for the same reason...but then uses frame feeders in his hives. No logic there. One even cut out the feed compartment and made his own plywood frame feeders.

If you have lost the float it just underlines what I dislike about kit with all sorts of little plugs and parts......too many things to lose.

Too many of the versions of stuff around seems to have been designed to accommodate the plethora of grumblers and 'helpful' suggesters they meet at bee conventions............probably the very LAST folk they should be listening to. Like a committee of irreconcilable individualists.

Spoke to Roger in the summer about the new Langstroth nucs with removable internal feeder, he says they are going to be developing that idea into national nucs. Not sure when though.

 

[B+.]

They are all good.

The thread does however illustrate the issues British makers face. Disparity of requirements brings high prices. In Italy...where as far as I can see they use ONE type albeit from more than one maker....they cost well under 10 quid.

We use Paynes, but the main reason is that that is what we started with. Dislike ALL kit that has associated 'bits'. Keep it simple........the BEES don't mind. The rest is an issue only for the beekeepers taste.

As for the bees drowning in the fixed feeder compartment? They supply the float with the box. Beekeepers are an odd bunch...have one client for nucs who dislikes the fixed feeder for the same reason...but then uses frame feeders in his hives. No logic there. One even cut out the feed compartment and made his own plywood frame feeders.

If you have lost the float it just underlines what I dislike about kit with all sorts of little plugs and parts......too many things to lose.

Too many of the versions of stuff around seems to have been designed to accommodate the plethora of grumblers and 'helpful' suggesters they meet at bee conventions............probably the very LAST folk they should be listening to. Like a committee of irreconcilable individualists.

I bought a batch of Paynes Langstroth nucs in the summer (https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=751&pictureid=3910).
The peculiar thing that I noticed is that the nuc has a fixed floor. Extension boxes are available but they, of course, have no fixed floor. Wouldn't it just have been easier to have a detachable floor? That way, the mold would have been re-usable and the box from one nuc could be used as an extension to another (if necessary).
This isn't a complaint. I like the nucs. It just seems a bit of a strange idea (unless transporting single story nucs was a design requirement).

 

[Beefriendly]

The expensive bit of any poly hive part is the original moulds...around 20K+ investment for something like a complete hive.
Paynes will have had to have a separate mould made for the extension, the original mould having the floor included. If they want to make a separate floor they will need a new mould making just for the floor.
As it happens I like floors attached to sides as it stops me dropping the floors off...as has happened a few times with some of my old wooden Nucs.

 

[Curly green fingers]

Thanks again for the replys I like what ITLD wrote about keeping it simple that seems a very good idea .

I would rather prefer to use a frame feeder and even make my own once I've got the pattern. I like the idea of having floors you could change as I do change my floors on my hives quite regularly.

I also plan to change my hill apairy hives to polys but im a bit concerned about the way they propolis everything together, some of my wooden boxes are hard to get apart sometimes.
Cheers folks as always I'll be waiting for the sales to hopefully get a bargain!

 

[GuyNir]

I use the maisemore poly nucs and really like it. I prefer using the nuc with a detachable floor, so buying floors/Brood boxes/roofs separate.

As for my Payne’s poly nucs, never liked the side feeder, awful design - now all converted to 8 frame nucs.

 

[B+.]

im a bit concerned about the way they propolis everything together, some of my wooden boxes are hard to get apart sometimes.

I think you'll see less propolis in the poly hives

 

[GuyNir]

I think you'll see less propolis in the poly hives

Agree. Not an issue for me.