these Swienty units are decent for the money
Not by a long chalk.
Years ago I found the Swienty design flaws to complicate efficient operation so thoroughly that I gave up using them. Luckily a grounds maintenance company (that ran QE Park after the Olympics) paid for all six hives, so the pain was not mine.
Lucky escape, but at the time Abelo weren't on the scene so options were limited. I recall looking at the Beehive Supplies National poly and at Paynes, but it was pretty clear that they were non-starters as the off-piste footprints would be incompatible with the BS National I aready had.
The cheaper Swienty
appears to be a bargain but flatpack is cheaper to transport than say, the one-piece Abelo and though Swienty production costs - Chinese, I believe - may be lower, carbon miles must be greater.
Base cost is seductive but misleading and thirty years of practical use will demonsrate that in reality, the price is high.
There are
seven Swienty design flaws: first, the
floor recess beneath bottom bars leads to comb extension; not a big deal if the box stays put, but if it goes above another the frames must be cleaned. The
entrance is a nice 9mm. but the slope up to it is fiddly to block. The holes in the small
mesh floor are pointless; all mine were propolised, suggesting that Swienty did no field trials before going to production.
The boxes are too thin at the lug wall and yes, an L-shaped length of plastic against the wall and on the recess floor will stop the nibbling and raise the frames so they (at last) sit flush with box tops. The
lug walls are curved at the top to match the roof
but not the square-section box base above, so 900mm of the 1800 box perimeter has minimal point of contact between boxes, and, I imagine, a subsequent loss of heat.
The
interior box dimensions are incorrect and allow frames to slop about horizontally; side bars contact end walls leading to brace comb and the bonding of lug ends to the recess wall. Because of this slop the frames offset easily and the Hoffmans can become redundant.
The box
base rim was designed for top bee space yet the hive is sold as
bottom bee space. My guess is that the system was designed as TBS (which would be lovely) but that Swienty realised that a fiddle would be needed to make headway in the predominant BBS UK market.
The
runners supplied thereafter complicate life for BBS beekeepers because the 35mm base rim will crush bees when the hive is put back together. Not only that: the wide 35mm base is guaranteed to become propolised to the top bars below. Nice!
The
box feeder is very good for TBS but needs the
faff of beespace strips of wood glued and screwed to the base rim to convert it to BBS. Swienty don't tell you that, nor (naturally) did they invest in a mould re-design.
The
roof has been
designed twice and is still not thick enough to give insulation where it's most needed. The re-design about eight years ago converted the inside rim from square to round-shouldered to match the new box profile. It was a disaster, because the rim was fragile and broke easily.
I remember discussing this at the time by phone with C Wynne Jones (Swienty stockist), and came away with the clear view that Swienty were pretty clueless; some time later Swienty recognised that they'd created a
dog's dinner and reverted to the original square profile roof, which though stronger at the rim, didn't match the curved box profile (which remains unchanged). Confused? Swienty certainly are!
Just watched the BMH video: Laurence puts it well and I agree: the design is a failure. Last year I heard that Swienty had lost their Chinese production and I hoped it would mean the end of the line for the hive. Seems not, and so novices will continue to see the Swienty base price as an advantage, believe all hives are designed effectively, and struggle with the practical reality.
pondering which poly National I buy
Easy: if you're starting from scratch and don't mind being locked into the design of one supplier, choose what you like and hope they stay in business. If you have already a mixture of standard BS 460mm wood boxes then go for the entirely compatible Abelo, and use the Swienty as bait hives.
