Poly hives

[justsmith]

I am sure this has come up a few times, But does maisemore or paynes brood box (national) normaly fit wooden supers better (got a few old thorne supers)

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't know about Maisie but Paynes do fit but look awful as the poly box has bigger external dimensions. I put wooden supers on my Paynes boxes though

 

[Poly Hive]

They should yes but there is better quality available from Swienty. See Jones of Wales.

PH

 

[Erichalfbee]

I love my Swienty boxes. They do take one less frame though

 

[Poly Hive]

Never bothered me on doubles.

PH

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

This is the answer I had off Maisies when they first came out:

the footprint is 580x500mm, we have designed it this size so you are able to get four bee hives on a standard size pallet just in case you are a commercial bee farmer and move your bees mechanically, the internal dimensions are the same as a wooden National hive so would take 11 x DN1's in the brood chamber or 12 x DN4s and same for the supers

 

[justsmith]

Thanks for the replys

 

[Honeybeeco]

I am sure this has come up a few times, But does maisemore or paynes brood box (national) normaly fit wooden supers better (got a few old thorne supers)

Have you visited the abelo bee guys and had a look at their poly hives. I saw them at the Harper convention last week and I like them. They are not cheap but the outside and internals sizes are national hives and thus look the best when using a poly and wood hive combo, and also all the joint faces and frame locations have hard plastic bonded into the poly when manufactured, so you won't have to worry about hive tool damage separating them and removing stuck down frames. They are pre painted as well.

I noticed one of the Scottish bee farmers is using them, and even transports them to heather.

I think the abelo team are onto something if I'm honest, if you can turn your mind away from the slightly higher price.

If I wasn't using 14x12 National Long Hives due to my injury, I'd have them at my home apiary.

Search abelo bees and I'm sure they come up in Google.

Andy.

 

[Jimmy]

Honeybeeco,

At Beetradex they told me that they were planning to add a 14x12 eke in the near future.

Edit - realise you might not be using standard 14x12s.

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I have used swienty 14x12 and super boxes from cwj for the last three years and can not fault them at all I mix them about all the time with t-----s wood supers and poly on the wooden hives I have so far encountered no problems. Only thing worth a mention is that the poly only hold ten frames but the bees use all the frames and the supers will only hold eight fully drawn frames.

 

[Honeybeeco]

Honeybeeco,

At Beetradex they told me that they were planning to add a 14x12 eke in the near future.

Edit - realise you might not be using standard 14x12s.

Thanks for the heads up and I do appreciate that, but your right, my hives are National 14x12 but long as they take 22 frames in one long open box with a removable centre board, so like having 2 brood boxes side by side. They still use stand off the shelf 14x12 frames so not to be confused with a Top Bar Hive (Tbh)

I'm using these hives as I simply can't lift double brood boxes for summer inspections anymore ( frustrating as I'm only 46 ) so I'm going this route to allow me to continue bee keeping and not have to lift, so swarm measure means I simply slid the relevant frames I need to move over to the other end of the box - which has its own entrance, replace the centre board and artificial swarm done and dusted ( in simple terms obviously )

I can then remove the old queen in a few months when the new queen I slid over earlier is laying, put both hives back together and then I have a super hive for my main honey which is heather. I keep the old queen and retire her off into the 6 frame Nucs I run to keep making me brood to boost other hives.

The supers I'm running on the long hive are actually 5 frame nuc boxes, so again weight is Reduced if I have to lift them off to go in below.

I'm sorry to have kidnapped the thread with my ramblings.

A.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

According to Derekm when he tested various polyhives, the one that performed best, thermally, was by Beehive Supplies Ltd of Harrowbarrow. It was about 6% more thermally efficient than the Swienty.

CVB

 

[Swarm]

I am sure this has come up a few times, But does maisemore or paynes brood box (national) normaly fit wooden supers better (got a few old thorne supers)

They will fit but certainly not better, you only need to put an excluder on and they look untidy and cobbled together and the BHS hives are the same at 500 mm. All hive components fit the Swienty far better.

 

[Zante]

I still haven't quite decided which type of hive I will be using, but what I have already decided is that it will be wood hives for which I'll build an expanded polystyrene sleeve to improve insulation.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

You are far better off using celotex - more robust as well.

 

[Zante]

Thanks for the tip, I'll look it up.

 

[rdmw]

I know these are Langstroth but they look well designed and made http://thermobeehive.co.uk/


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Thanks for the tip, I'll look it up.

There are several products that go under the generic abbreviation of PIR = polyisocyanurate.

Look for trade names celotex, extratherm, quinntherm, kingspan, ecotherm, recticel, the latter reckoned to be more dimensionally stable than the rest.

Make sure all cut surfaces are covered with self-adhesive aluminium foil tape and the exterior surfaces can be painted to improve longevity.

CVB

 

[Zante]

There are several products that go under the generic abbreviation of PIR = polyisocyanurate.

Look for trade names celotex, extratherm, quinntherm, kingspan, ecotherm, recticel, the latter reckoned to be more dimensionally stable than the rest.

Make sure all cut surfaces are covered with self-adhesive aluminium foil tape and the exterior surfaces can be painted to improve longevity.

CVB

Will do, thank you

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thanks for the tip, I'll look it up.

DerekM on here has done a lot of work on insulation and hive bonnets - look up some of his posts