Paynes Poly

[Nic Rhodes]

Prices have gone back up so I will wait for sale no rush....

 

[Patrick1]

Thanks for that I will give it a try, poly work well as supers, much lighter

 

[itma]

...
The feeder

The feeder sits on top of the hive and is of an adaptation on the miller design. The two walls that stop the bees getting into the syrup are meant to sit flush with the top of the feeder, they don't in this model. They stick up 12mm, I am not sure what the line of thinking was here. Once the roof is placed on top of the feeder there is space for the bees to run along the top inside edge and get into the feeder and drown! Looking at the roof it may have been designed to fit over this but it doesn’t! and there is a clear 12mm gap left between the roof and the feeder walls, which is more evident when you strap the roof down and see it bend over these two walls that protrude over the top of the feeder.

...

Has the way that the feeder works been resolved?

(Apologies if I've missed a post somewhere, but I don't recall further discussion of this point.)

 

[Winker]

Has the way that the feeder works been resolved?

(Apologies if I've missed a post somewhere, but I don't recall further discussion of this point.)

I find this poly very easy to cut with a Stanley blade, so made modifications to my 2 feeders by cutting the parts that protruded so they were flush and then cut the other two parts that were flush so as to lower them by 10mm for the bees to get over. This way I get the plastic crown board on top to stop the bees sticking the roof down.

But the short answer is no, they are still the same

 

[itma]

In your discussions with Paynes, did they address this oddity?

Its not clear to me how this could be supposed to work without 'matching' with the covering piece.

 

[region2]

Painting Poly Hives/Nucs with what?

They still have them for sale in the sale as of 03JAN2012

Did the feeder issue get resolved?

What paint should I paint my poly nucs with - paint stops mould groth an UV damage apparently...

R2

 

[RoofTops]

Paint for poly has been discussed endlessly here - more or less anything will do - emulsion, gloss even car body aerosols which you would think would melt the poly but according to Finman work fine. I prefer acrylic paints such as outdoor masonry paint for the exterior and a gloss acrylic for the inside of the feeder (3 to 4 coats). Acrylic paints adhere well and are water based so easy to clean up afterwards.

 

[JamezF]

And of course they come in a nice range of colours so you can make them blend into the countryside or go for the "full Balamory".

James

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

They still have them for sale in the sale as of 03JAN2012

Did the feeder issue get resolved?

What paint should I paint my poly nucs with - paint stops mould groth an UV damage apparently...

R2

If by the "feeder issue" you mean the lip that comes up the central dividers then it is by design - from Roger Payne:

The lips are designed to fit into the lid to close the feeder off to the bees. You should not need to cut them off otherwise it will produce a bee space for the bees to make their way into the main feeding compartment. Just place the lid over the feeder and then the feeder over the brood box.

so no crown board I guess.

Wide variety of paint usable I believe - see Hedgerows very comprehensive sticky. Also http://www.modern beekeeping.co.uk/p/faqs#Do I need to Paint My Hive (remove the space) recommends exterior masonry paint. Inside feeder 3 layers of ordinary white gloss, with a sprinkling of sand at the end if you want to help grip.

 

[Poly Hive]

You do not feed with a full top feeder as abvove with a CB in place, whether timber or poly.

In fact a "proper" CB does NOT have porter bee escape holes in it. An abomination in themselves BTW.

PH

 

[drstitson]

PH - IMHO the issue with the paynes model is that it appears there is no clear cover over the "hive" side (bee access) of the structure. so when you remove roof to top up feed the bees can get out at you.

 

[Poly Hive]

And? do you not wear a veil?

When I used the same idea of feeder to feed gallons then I just had the roof on top.

PH

 

[region2]

http://tinyurl.com/7aaupqc <-- working link

R2

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Not sure where the reference to porter escape holes was, but I don't use them myself since crafting that fine clearer board.

I was suggesting a CB as a cover in lack of any other, as Winker suggests that there can be a gap between the roof and feeder (yet to verify this for myself)

 

[Nic Rhodes]

got six of these feeders decending probably tomorrow (with 14 x 12 hives). Looking forward to them coming.

 

[drstitson]

"do you not wear a veil?"

not when topping up miller/ashforth style feeders in the dark.

 

[Poly Hive]

Well matey you only get two eyes issued...

I wear my veil moving bees at 2am.

PH

 

[JamezF]

All this talk of feeders reminds me that I had some questions on designs. But I shall start another thread for that.

James

 

[itma]

PH - IMHO the issue with the ****** model is that it appears there is no clear cover over the "hive" side (bee access) of the structure. so when you remove roof to top up feed the bees can get out at you.

Having handled the Pains feeder, using the rood as the feeder lid has three disadvantages to my eyes.

-- the arches contact the roof underside. The bees could put prop on the join and stick the roof to the feeder.
-- as drstitson remarks, there is no cover over the slot that leads down to the hive, so bees can come straight up at you.
-- if the feeder is "drunk dry" the bees get access to the perimeter joint between feeder and roof by going under the bar, because the 'syrup' area is unlidded. "Propping" that joint has lead to problems with the nuc and the strong advice to use a cover board! That risk would be a deterrent to using the feeder dry, as advocated by ITTLD for extra insulation, or for cleaning odd scraps of comb.

IMHO, it would have been better to design it to take the clear top sheet, rather than using the underside of the roof as the feeder lid.
Those roof-touching arches, preventing the simple use of a proper cover, seem to me to be more of a bug than a feature.

 

[oliver90owner]

Perhaps yet another company not looking at compatability issues - or even worse, making their hives such that the new owners are 'tied' to that design.

I agree that the feeder arrangement is of suspect design. That was one of the first things that caught my attention.