Swienty vs Abelo poly

[Beefriendly]

I don't mind painting the hives, I actually enjoy it but then again I don't have many yet.

Has anyone painted the Abelo hives as I'd be tempted to do that. I'm think I'll try an Abelo given the feedback here.

Buy green ones if you don't like blue or yellow ones. Repaint them green again if wish.
I like the blue and yellow ones.

Painting one or two is okay, but when you start purchasing in 10's or larger quantities ...life's too short...buy Abelo ready painted..

 

[Finman]

Painting one or two is okay, but when you start purchasing in 10's or larger quantities ...life's too short...buy Abelo ready painted..

10 boxes = 2 hives, and you waste your only life. Abelo saves you.....

 

[Millet]

10 boxes = 2 hives, and you waste your only life. Abelo saves you.....

I would have thought 10 boxes was one hive for your huge colonies that produce in excess of 100kg of honey..

 

[Finman]

I would have thought 10 boxes was one hive for your huge colonies that produce in excess of 100kg of honey..

10 box hive makes 200 kg honey.

6 box hive makes 100 kg

 

[wightbees]

For you millet that's 10 hives

 

[Millet]

For you millet that's 10 hives

Try 20 ...

 

[Finman]

Try 20 ...

That is exactly what I thought.

 

[Swarm]

Looks like the dreaded 'lip' has returned with the new poly langstroth from abelo

 

[Beefriendly]

Some of us think lips are really good....stops all that slipping about. Wish they would add them to the their National hives.
Shame I'm not using Langs.

 

[Swarm]

There's a surprise

 

[Poly Hive]

The lip idea was "invented" by Steele and Brodie back in the 80's though no doubt they were not the first hence my quotes.

I asked the ex foreman some years ago about the lipped hive, they called it "the Wormit Hive" as their base was in Wormit by Dundee, and he said it was pretty much a failure as the lip was too much of a weak point.

I would suggest that that remains the issue.

PH

 

[SWEET]

There is no space above the top-bar lugs in the Swienties. That means the frames are often propolised to the box above it, and that can cause problems resulting in very angry bees. Abelos do not have any such problems. I have not found condensation to be a problem in either hive. Abelo’s plastic rails are easy to clean. The two hives have the same footprint, which means components are interchangeable. Abelo is made with a denser polystyrene - so, slightly less insulating (I’ve been told), but my bees do well in them.


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I’ve just taken delivery of the national version , there’s plenty of space above lugs so are you talking about an old design ?

 

[Angry_Mob]

Looking at the C. Wynne Jones site (nice new redesign) they boxes they have look exactly the same as mine and I have no top space.

Did you insert the plastic runner rails into the side?


Just as an update to this thread I purchased a Swienty 14x12 in blue/yellow. It looks better than in the photos. Roof is nice and deep which I already used on my hive along with the poly crown board. The crown board itself is useful as it allows access to fondant, however there is a tweak I might make to it which will make it much better.

As for the openings on the front of the hive, does anyone use those? During a strong flow into the super?

 

[Madge]

I’ve just taken delivery of the national version , there’s plenty of space above lugs so are you talking about an old design ?

...Did you insert the plastic runner rails into the side? ...

We're talking about the space directly above the lugs - so, below the wall of the box above it. Unless they've redesigned Swienty again, there is no space above the lugs with the plastic rails in place. See photos of the original Swienty and the new Swienty.

 

[Swarm]

Great pics MC, shows how 'new' designs are not always an improvement. Squashed bees!
Note also that the narrow part outside the lug ends is flat on the old version. The new box is rounded off leaving a very small contact at this point, probably not much more than 1/8".
The old roof was better too

Angry_Mob, with vents and colours, your new hive is an abelo.

 

[Beefriendly]

Just as an update to this thread I purchased a Swienty 14x12 in blue/yellow.

Sure you don't mean an Abelo? Swienty polys usually come flat packed and ready to paint, no vents. Maybe they are now "copying" Abelo?

 

[Angry_Mob]

Yes, Abelo. Should really proofread.

 

[SWEET]

We're talking about the space directly above the lugs - so, below the wall of the box above it. Unless they've redesigned Swienty again, there is no space above the lugs with the plastic rails in place. See photos of the original Swienty and the new Swienty.

View attachment 15407 View attachment 15408

Yeah me too , it's about 3mm ( with plastic runners fitted ) , would the bees glue that space? , could see how bees could get crushed, but can crush bee's if not careful with the cedar boxes. Agreed regards the thin edge , see how that fairs.

I've purchased this to test and will see how it goes , thanks for the pointers.

 

[Madge]

... would the bees glue that space? ...

Yes, that happened to me. The frames lifted it up with the top box. Mayhem. It was glued so tight, I couldn't even twist it free. I had to free the frames from the top box one by one. It's probably not so bad if you have a queen excluder above the box.

I've since reduced the lugs by a couple of millimetres. That's easy to do with a bandsaw - but probably very difficult without one.

 

[SWEET]

Thanks this is good to know , lucky for me i have a bandsaw but this seems a pain , what happens if you leave the runners out and varnish the ledge the frames sit on ? , assume the runners were a move to sort any issues with frames sitting atop the ledge .

ive also noticed a small gap around the box edges , to be fair the cedar hives are the same and bees just fill it .