Polyhives

[Davea]

I've been looking at the poly hives from Modern Beekeeping with the plastic rail to protect against hive tool damage. I wish to buy 14x12 brood boxes and realise that Modern Beekeeping don't make this option.
I realise also that I can use 2 supers to make a deep brood box.

Paynes do however sell a 14x12 brood box .Do polyhives , without the protector rail,such as available at Paynes sustain hive tool damage ?

The question really is whether to go for Modern Beekeeping hives (2 supers) with the protector rail, or Paynes with a 14x12 box and no protector rails?

Thanks all and a very merry Christmas and productive new year.
Dave

 

[Finman]

.
My oldest boxes are 23 year old and my tools have not damaged the box edge. There are signs but not pieces of.
The rail is not necessary.

If the box is tight, the reason is that bees have glued the frames with burr. In bad case you loosen them frame by frame.

 

[drstitson]

In the two nat MB boxes that i've used to date the plastic runners actually make it a very tight fit at lug ends (or impossible in case of MM green frame feeder).

 

[Onge]

The Swienty boxes I use are just poly with no protector rail.

There fine. Also poly boxes tend to not get as stuck together like the wooden boxes do.

 

[Poly Hive]

There is no need for it at all.

As Finman says... and that is my experience too over a similar length of time.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
Guys. What are you inventing now....

Polyhives has been used 25 years.
A professional beekeeper must handle 100 hives a day and 300 boxes a day.

A hobby beekeeper meets trouble with one box. The whole day is ruined. Something odd in this case?
A thump in the middle of palm?

 

[Cazza]

.
A thump in the middle of palm?

Sorry Finman, that's lost in translation!????

Cazza

 

[RoofTops]

The plastic rail is not really to protect against hive tool damage. The rebate where the frames sit in a poly hive gets a lot of wear from activity such as scraping off propolis, especially at the bit opposite the frame ends. In poly hives 20+ years old this is the area which is usually most worn. The MB hives have made this bit out of hard plastic so propolis can be quickly scraped off without any risk of damage to the hive.

 

[Winker]

Paynes do however sell a 14x12 brood box .Do polyhives , without the protector rail,such as available at Paynes sustain hive tool damage ?

Dave

IMHO Paynes are too soft and will take hive tool dammage. You just have to drop a Paynes 14X12 from 3 feet for it to have a dent in it. I have 2 of his 14X12 and i dont think they will go the 25 years that some peoples do. I have had to fill and sand more dents in the paynes hives than some of my house walls

 

[Finman]

.
If you think about force against material of poly, it is as strond upwards and downwards. Do the upper box has lid on the bottom edge?

What ever material you have, you must allways fit the handling according it and tools too.

 

[BBG]

The plastic rail is not really to protect against hive tool damage. The rebate where the frames sit in a poly hive gets a lot of wear from activity such as scraping off propolis, especially at the bit opposite the frame ends. In poly hives 20+ years old this is the area which is usually most worn. The MB hives have made this bit out of hard plastic so propolis can be quickly scraped off without any risk of damage to the hive.

Bit like this one:

This super wasn't too bad but the brood box was something else

 

[drstitson]

do you use the smiley fly swatter on the bees?

 

[Black Comb]

BBG
Do you use dadant or l/s frames in the supers?

 

[BBG]

do you use the smiley fly swatter on the bees?

Had to on one due to insistent aggression but wasps are easy-ish to swat when visiting the hives. Trouble is, it doesn't always kill them so pursuit is necessary when time allows!

PeterS
BBG
Do you use dadant or l/s frames in the supers?


I will quote Mod Beekeeping on this but we did buy Modified Dadant shallow:

Langstroth Medium Hive Body

"Sometimes known as a 3/4 Langstroth hive body this item takes 9 Manley or up to 10 Hoffman frames.

It is manufactured to the US and European Langstroth Standard for frames 6.25" (157mm) deep. If buying frames in the UK please specify Modified Dadant Shallow as the unique UK standard shallow Langstroth will not be deep enough by about 20mm."

As Finman says, 'these special islands not like the rest of Europe and the world - or something like that!

 

[drstitson]

the clean bottom bar is a good clue that the frames were correct depth!!!

 

[BBG]

the clean bottom bar is a good clue that the frames were correct depth!!!

Makes life easier.

BTW, if anyone's interested, we've just had winds screaming at 60 -70 knots for fifteen minutes on the N Devon coast. A check is due and we're off to do it.

 

[jakethedog]

....as the unique UK standard shallow Langstroth will not be deep enough by about 20mm."

As Finman says, 'these special islands not like the rest of Europe and the world - or something like that!

what's unique to the UK about a langstroth shallow? scour the internet over the holidays and you'll find references to plenty of U.S firms that are using thousands of shallows (as opposed to medium/illinois supers) as their standard honey box, nothing special about the UK.

which is why dadants stock them as standard alongside the mediums.

 

[Poly Hive]

Some strains of bee just love to propolise. I cull for that.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

Propolis may be of great benefit to the bees, regards health.

http://www.apidologie.org/index.php...es/apido/full_html/2010/03/m09142/m09142.html


Perhaps we have been shooting ourselves in the foot by breeding for bees that don’t use much propolis!

http://scientificbeekeeping.com/sick-bees-part-3-the-bee-immune-system/

 

[drstitson]

That's not much propolis - i've got a couple of colonies that look like a dirty protest in a toffee factory!!!!