Swienty poly nucs.

[Black Comb]

I bought a few of these at the convention.
Fine for l/s.

they have a "slot" which I understood to be for a piece of ply to allow them to convert easily to national size.

the pics. show what happens when a piece of ply is inserted and a national frame is used. Too much bee space at one end and none at the other.

Am I missing something?

 

[mbc]

.

Am I missing something?

no, their ****, the slots in the wrong place and theres always going to be too much space tother side, as far as I can see.

 

[snoop]

The extra space you are looking at is at the entrance side . The bees will come along fine in it and you can transfer them to a brood box.
A 3 framed nuc will bill up fast in that box and with feeding will be up to a brood box before winter. I use them for both Langstroth and a few nationals for beginners to offset my costs .If you uses slightly thinner timber you would find it easier to use it. I just cut a sheet of kingspan insulation the right width& height & drop it in there it fits like a glove. You can also get an internal feeder to feed them or when you get to the 6th frame ( if it is undrawn) lay a ziplock bag flat on top of the frames with 1 or 2 scores in the bag & the bees will feed away & draw frame no g 6 there is loads of room under the cover

 

[Black Comb]

Thank you both for your replies.
I mailed Swienty about this (twice) but no reply.

I'm sure one of the poly advocates posted about using these a couple of years ago but I can't find the thread.

 

[Into the lions den]

If they are the ones I think they are they are a compromise unit, designed by Knud Hvam to be adaptable to all frame sizes.............note the ever so slight weasel word in there...sizes rather than patterns. Yes they take BS frames, but short lugged, as in Smith style. You will note that the OP has the side bars hard up against the ply barrier, shorten the lugs down to Smith length and they sit just fine with the correct space at either end. Its a hefty and well made bit of kit, but almost as expensive* as a full hive of floor brood and roof, nearly as big, and in poly with no warmth issue probably as easy to go the full hive way.

Accomodating the long lugs means a special mould that uses considerably more material, and has relatively short manufacture runs and lower potential market (except in the UK and Ireland), and thus higher prices.

None of the continental and North American poly gear is adapted to long lugs, which are a British peculiarity as far as the rest of the world is concerned.


*.......Not aware fo what they charge at retail, just know what I would pay for them at trade level.

 

[Poly Hive]

I have 6 of them but use them for Lang so have not even measured for Nat, as my poly nats are the five frame version.

If the spacing is wrong, and frankly I dinna much like the entrance, I suggest doing what I do which is to measure the spacing yourself and put in the ply with mastic.

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

thanks for that.. was thinking of getting some as we now run nationals and langstroths

 

[Black Comb]

Thank you all. Will do some modding.
Must admit, I prefer short lugs.