Paradise or abelo poly national.

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I suppose it sits in the same cateogory as the clitoris and Holyhead, everybody knows where it is, but why go there?
I get you I've never been there long enough to find it anyway:p
I hope SWMBO doesn't see these posts.
 
I have ~50 hives with roughly 80% Swienty and 10% each of wood and Abelo. If I expand and/or need to replace it will probably be with the current Abelo design.
The old Swienty design (Denrosa) was superior to the current one IMHO. Eric B's observations about the current Swienty design mirror my experience. Bees do well in them but they have some irritating flaws which limit both full recommendation and working life.

I was just about to write an almost identical comment to you Jimmy. Another vote for the Abelo here although there is soon to be a brand new, very interesting addition to national poly market and this one doesnt come from York! Keep your eyes peeled. I have seen the design and I really like it!
 
That’s probably just to stop them sticking. Sliding around should not be an issue with the rebate I guess, we used to do that with boxes that had no frame runners. It works for at least a limited time. I don’t think rebated boxes will squish bees any more than 2 flat surfaces meeting, it happens.
I think it actually says it helps with the water ingress.
 
I was just about to write an almost identical comment to you Jimmy. Another vote for the Abelo here although there is soon to be a brand new, very interesting addition to national poly market and this one doesnt come from York! Keep your eyes peeled. I have seen the design and I really like it!
I suppose you will be reviewing it bmh and be biased.
 
Although Abelo lead to a bigger spend upfront the benefits of an assembled and painted box are significant.

You may be tempted by the cheaper flat-pack unpainted National Swienty,

The CWJ website states vaguely that Swienty poly hive parts are interchangeable/compatible with National wooden hive parts. Truth is that if you're BBS, they're not.

After a lot of research last year I threw my hat into the National Paradise ring. I have found them well put together and easy enough to work with. They were also cheaper than the Abelo's and most others. Saying that, there are some points that one has to watch out for.
It took a long time to paint the ten hives I bought. Luckily, I had more time on my hands, so it was okay. It was also an added 'extra' to the overall price, obviously. This year I am going to buy a sprayer to speed things up. Abelo's may be painted, but I do prefer to use my own colour schemes!
I noticed that the the bees were far more 'productive.' They will fill the ten frames and any spaces much quicker than in a wooden hive! I got completely taken by surprise, last season, by the sheer speed of colonisation. I had to buy 2mm correx sheets to make up boards etc.. I multi-layer them to the depth and strength I need.
As for using wooden National parts, on a few occasions I used wooden supers, with no problems.
This season I may get some deep brood boxes. At the very least I will be using more double brood boxes, as the emphasis will be more on bee production than honey.
 

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Am I missing something? Several people have mentioned that the Abelo is more expensive than the Paradise but it would appear from a quick search the the opposite is true.
Abelo assembled unpainted - £125
Paradise flat unpainted + hive strap - £135
 

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