Polystyrene hives and mouse guards

[glannin]

I started beekeeping in 2010, with one cedar national hive so have it all to learn. Am keeping my fingers crossed that they survive the winter and hope to increase to another hive this year and am seriously considering polystyrene. Current hive is in a small wood and needs mouse guard in winter but can you fix mouse guards to poly hives?

 

[Onge]

My type of poly (swienty) has a one bee space slot along the front.

This is apparently too small for mice to get into. So you don't need to do anything.

This is my first winter with poly and its so far so good.

Here is a picture.

 

[Juststarting]

I also have a swienty one, but have fitted a mouse guard - just pushed drawing pins through guard into hive. Simples!

 

[peteinwilts]

I am not a polyhive owner, but don't mice just chew through the polystyrene around the mouseguard??

 

[Onge]

Thats what I thought.

I have not had any mouse guards on and there fine, no chew marks.

I think it must be because there's a built in slope that leads to the slot entrance and they don't chew it /shrug.

It seems to be working so far.

 

[RoofTops]

The Swienty system works fine and some other designs have an entrance reducer which performs the same task - closing off the entrance to one bee space high. The concept has been proven on thousands of hives.

 

[glannin]

Many thanks - I am definately going for a poly now

 

[oliver90owner]

Glannin'

Wow!

If that was all it needed for you to decide on going the poly route, I am amazed.

Or are there other minor details you have considered before deciding polys to be advantageous?

Regards, RAB

 

[Heather]

Didn't take the chance- cut down mouseguard on my poly Nuc works fine.

 

[Erichalfbee]

If that was all it needed for you to decide on going the poly route, I am amazed.

Or are there other minor details you have considered before deciding polys to be advantageous?

Regards, RAB

That raised a smile

I think a lot of us have been thinking of polys and that is just another pro.
I think, maybe, Rooftops might be inundated with orders this spring

 

[oliver90owner]

Erichalfbee,

Just provoking some more discussion without any particular specific agenda. You are probably right about M*dern Beekeeping. There are others on the market, though, and there are pros and cons for each - I know, because I have looked carefully.

The new starter can easily be misled into buying something which ends up too much of a compromise for them to really enjoy the alternative format/material.

I am not sure, or even a clue, of glannin's expertise and it might be of help to discuss further, both for that particular poster and any others that may be even faintly considering the change of hive constructin material.

There are many who would might think it treasonable to change from wood! Similarly, some with a financial connection, others with different reasons. So let's be seeing them, to help glannin and others make a good decision!

Regards, RAB

 

[snoop]

I have poly langstoths again from Swienty. Started last year. I choose them because of where I am living, I am relatively high up in comparsion to my other beekeepers in around sea level or slightly above and there is usually a couple of degrees in the difference between where I live & say Cork City. This makes my area colder and winter lasts about 3 weeks longer than on the flat say at Sea level. Daffodils in the City are finished flowering before they start to flower at my place.
No mouse guards & so far I don't have any trouble.
With langstroths all brood boxes & supers are the same size . Dissadvantage of it is a box of 10 frames full of honey can weigh very heavy. Bees appear to build up earlier because of the heat / insulation in the hive but also seem to go into winter on 2 brood boxes ,
Theses hives were mostly nucs created middle of May last year but built into double brood boxes by end of September , one with plenty of drawn, half filled frames for next years nucs in a third box.

 

[glannin]

Hello RAB, Only just joined Beekeeping Forum but had already considered lots of issues including insulating properties,condensation build-up, weather resistance, woodpecker resistance, which frames to use, OMF floors available, feeder ekes etc., etc. Spoken to other beekeepers and had positive feedback. They seem to be increasingly popular. However if anyone knows of major disadvantages, please let me know.
Many thanks
Gail

 

[johna]

I've kept my bees in National and Commercial wooden hives for 40 years but am going to change over to poly just as soon as I can get them from John.My reason-- I'm now getting on a bit and having seen and handled similar hives belonging to a comercial chappie I am impressed with how light and durable the plastic hives are.Johns hives will also allow me to use my existing supers in an emergency if I run out of gear.Quick to change over as well,just a simple shook swarm - a dash of OA on nice new and clean frames and foundation and away we go.

 

[oliver90owner]

glannin,

There are no major disadvantages. Lots of minor ones and lots of minor advantages too. Your bees will happily accept any comfortable home supplied for them!

Polys have been in use for 30 years or more. If there were major disadvantages they would have 'bitten the dust' long ago and never have caught on to any great extent.

Some parts of continental Europe are very much 'poly minded'. The North American Continent is not so well endowed with poly. The UK has retained a mainly 'wooden hive' mentality because, I believe, of Th*rne's pro-wood stance (they still do not supply any poly hives (only mini mating nucs)). I reckon that if it were to change, and they did start supplying them, the polyhive in the UK would become a great deal more common.

The arrival on the scene of M*dern Beekeeping had changed the picture only slightly due to the main polyhive, of Langstroth format, being a 'not so common choice' in the UK. The new poly based on the National format will, I believe, rapidly change the outlook of those producing only wooden hives.

Maybe not a good move for those making a 'class' niche product and perhaps it will not affect them so much, but for the mass-produced market, a polyhive should be very competitive. I can see the unit costs reducing even though oil prices are rising.

The one area where they will not score, in the short term, is for that of the self-build constructor because working with plastic is not so easy/convenient as working with wood.

One reason why most of my hives are/have been wood was my introduction to, and continued use of, the British National format and the unavailability of an alternative material of construction for it.

Regards, RAB

 

[Firegazer]

Make a considered decision though: there are (at least) two types of poly hive - I now have one of each.

My humble opinion below, look at videos and other posts before making your choice . . .

One from Rooftops has recesses in each box so the next higher box fits onto it more securely (bit like lego but just slightly raised edges). The Swienty ones have flat surfaces.

The Rooftops one are great if you use only them, but it can be a bit tricky to rebuild a stack without squashing anything because you can't put them on at an angle, then swivel them square: it's straight down and hope the bees move (!). The entrance is better, I think, than the strange sloping ones on the Swienty; you can reduce and open them with some bits of planed wood to make whatever size you like.

The big advantage of the Swienty for most people is probably that you can mix them with standard cedar parts (Langstroth sizes everywhere, of course): if you want to make up a new hive you can sit a Swienty brood box on top of a cedar floor - the poly box has thicker walls but the same internal dimension (and flat mating surfaces).

So I reckon the Rooftops ones are a bit more secure (especially for travelling, where the 'clicked together' bit really helps) but the Swienty ones give you more bodging options.

A slightly different factor might be that Rooftops lives in the UK and is a nice bloke - it might be easier to get quick bits, or advice from a local source; the Swienty people were also very nice but a long way away - you can't drive to Denmark to grab an extra brood box . . .

Hope that helps.

FG

 

[Finman]

.
I have used polyboxes 23 years.

One problemis that bees bite ventilating holes bigger. Now i have used a resolution to that. I drill a upper ventilation hole, i put a piece of plastic tube in it.

Only glue which work with hives is polyurethane. It hardens with moisture. Boxes are easy to repair.

My friend has tried polyhives in woods. He says that animals make them full of holes. It may be
greyhead woodpecker. Mice goes in via holes. I have had during 2 years troubles with woodpecker.

Poly boxes are guite different to nurse compared with wooden hives. But they advantages win many times the troubles which you perhaps meet. I use old wooden boxes as super and i use polyboxes as brood boxes. I made wooden boxes 44 years ago and still use them.

Ihave tried to do own polyboxes but that is pure madness.

.

 

[glannin]

Thanks very much to everyone for all this info. I am going to go and look at more poly hives in use before final decision but overall the evidence appears to be in their favour. Many thanks again
Gail

 

[Grub]

Hi I have a poly from MB and I think deffo way forward , the only downside was my spinner was to small (fitted only national ) also my beek Society didnt have one big enough for the frames but after some fiddling round managed to extract putting only the one frame in at a angle and then turning , ok for just the one hive but would of been a nightmare if I had more to do
Live and learn
Grub

 

[Poly Hive]

Apologies if some of this has already been covered.

As many of you are wondering about the mouse issue there is not one. In all my time with poly I have yet to see a mouse get in. If mice are nibbleing you have the wrong poly. IE soft stuff.

I bought my first poly from Struan Apiaries in 1988. It was a Langstroth which I adapted to a Smith. In that guise it took 12 frames.

Can you DIY and mod poly, yes. You need a good accurate table saw and off you go.

I used to make supers out of brood boxes and the offcuts I glued together, and dowelled to boot, and made up another super. so from three broods I got four supers.

The reasons for Poly not being so very popular in the UK have been pretty much discussed above so I will take that as said.

What has not been discussed really is due to lack of experience in the posters above.

I have I suppose some 1000 years hive experience of poly if you take a poly unit per year and times up. As in forty in a year = forty years experience and so on. Finman I rather think has more.

Bernard Mobus my first mentor was German and was the "father" of poly in the UK. He introduced Struan apiaries to it and they imported the first into the UK on a commercial basis. No doubt there were one or two bought on trips abroad before that but as far as I know Hamish of Struan was the first.

So why use poly apart from the weight issue?

Warmth and dryness in a nutshell.

Bees over winter better, as in they don't cluster nearly so tight and so are much less likely to suffer from isolation starvation, they rise into poly supers sooner, and have more brood in the brood boxes. Noticeably less pollen is stored in comparison to timber.

They brood later than timber in spring, though catch up fast and over take.

Swarms will draw out the foundation next to a wall rather than in the middle.

Poly also comes with what is now called OMF but in the beginning was known as ventilated floors.

The main problem at the moment is that Nationals are not currently available due to no one in the UK having the courage to purchase a min order from Swienty. I would if I had the cash but I am fully invested in my guesthouse.

If you have doubts about poly then by all means come and have a day or an hour with me and then make up your mind. I am not selling them so can be considered biased but experienced. Or is that "seen the light"?

PH