Polystyrene medium size body hives

[Poly Hive]

I had a Poly Lang with a leaky floor, in those days the floors had plastic grids that were a bit flimsy and so it stayed behind on the moor. This would be in your terms a medium.

I returned and changed the floor, and returned again that night to take it home.

I was fit, working physically offshore and in good health and it took me all my ability to lift that box up off the ground. It must have weighed some 130 lbs.

Hives can get VERY heavy and as for a Jumbo... I wince at the thought of humphing them about.

PH

 

[FenBee]

The weights in those boxes can be a bit crippling and you can of course be waiting around for the bees to fill up a box.

The medium boxes are not too deep and this is what is normally used as a super, invented (designed) in Oregon originally, I think. But you have a point a beekeeping partner is a good idea anyway.

I also might try on a least one hive not using a QE, this will allow the queen to expand the brood area as required.

 

[Finman]

Does anyone use Langstroth medium bodies.

In finland many use merely medium bodies because it is lihgt to hangle. Full of honey weight maximum is 16 kg. In Langstroth it is 10 kg more.

Some use one Langtroth body and the rest mediums.

All mediums gives more flexibity to change frames between boxes, making nucs etc.

 

[Finman]

I
Other than that, they just work and sometimes the girls glue the lids on real tight.

Girls glue the frames with burr. It is not boxes which are glued.

When they do so, move the frames one after another.

 

[Finman]

queen laying in outer frames = A figure of laying is the same as in wooden box

how to deal with propolis between hive parts = no problem...

Splitting a colony using a divider ---- easy


cleaning a poly hive as searing is not an option ---- in Lidl you have bathroom cleanning stuffs. They loose dirty like poo very well.


slightly off topic but frame management to maximise colony build up--- ????


Advantages through out the year spring - ---- Polyhives are at their best on winter and on Spring. In summer in honey works they are easy to handle.

I wonder - I have worked with poly 22 years. This summer I bought 20 years old polyboxes £ 6 a piece and they are in good condition. No hive is so cheap. Boxes were 40 pieces.

 

[FenBee]

Interesting reading Finman, I only hope my polyhives last as long!

By the way Poly Hive, you must have been trying to move a Langstroth Deep off the moor, not a medium. Mediums bodies are really Dandant shallows, only to a Langstroth form factor, so should not be too heavy.

I have one question relating to polyhives: Some one told me that wax moth can easily chew their way through the material. I thought this would be unlikely with a high density polystyrene hive. Has anyone any experience of this?

 

[Finman]

.
Polyhives came from Denmark to Finland 25 y ago.

Wax moth is not a problem here.

 

[Chris B]

I have one question relating to polyhives: Some one told me that wax moth can easily chew their way through the material. I thought this would be unlikely with a high density polystyrene hive. Has anyone any experience of this?

Yes the greater wax moth can make some nice holes. They can also make nice holes in wood so no difference really.

 

[FenBee]

Good point Chris, same for the Green Woodpecker, if you have any in your area. Both types of bee hive need good protection in Winter.

 

[oliver90owner]

I was under the impression that waxmoth larvae need some wood in their diet for full maturation. Agreed they might bore into a polyhive, but would the pupa be viable?

Regards, RAB

 

[RoofTops]

I was under the impression that waxmoth larvae need some wood in their diet for full maturation. Agreed they might bore into a polyhive, but would the pupa be viable?

Regards, RAB

I didn't know that but wooden frames would be sufficient. I've now changed over to all plastic frames so will let you know how I get on as the mild weather down here means empty supers rarely get any frost and wax moths of all sizes can be a major pest.

 

[oliver90owner]

They will still start on a diet of your comb - and thus still destroying it - but they need to finish their development on a wood diet, I think. At least you would still have the 'foundation' left, which is more than those of us with wax foundation!

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

Had a couple of apideas a few years back that i left the combs in at the end of the season, forgot about them.....wax moth larvae turned them into colanders...hundreds of holes, and the cocoons that remained within the apideas emerged as moths and not a bit of wood anywhere near them....wonder how they finnished developing without it..

 

[MJBee]

Thanks Hivemaker, You have just reminded me that I have left one of mine outside without removing the comb Hope it is not a collander