Using standard Supers with Abelo 12 frame poly (top bee space)

[Rob H]

Hi all, please go gently with me if Im asking something ridiculous!! Ive bought Abelo's 12 frame poly hives with a couple of Supers each, these are top bee space hives. As the price of individual poly supers is high Im probably going to purchase a bunch of cedar seconds in the upcoming sales and build them myself. Ive been scratching my head trying to work out how this configuration will work. Do I adapt the standard supers to become top bee space and if so what do I need to do or do I have a large gap between poly super and cedar super and then everything on top is bottom bee space?
Thanks for any help

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

they don't have the same footprint though

 

[blackcloud]

If you can workaround that somehow your cedars will be flatpacked and you just set the frame height with the vertical positioning of the the end panels during assembly.ie set them high for bbs and low for tbs

 

[Rob H]

they don't have the same footprint though

As a Newbie I'll take advice from anyone with a greater experience than myself (which are most!) I'll be disappointed if they are not compatible as I bought the new 12 frame Apolo on advice that they are fully compatible with standard BS gear.

 

[Erichalfbee]

With JBM
If you’d bought their old style hive you’d have been ok. I have standard wooden supers on mine.

 

[Rob H]

If you can workaround that somehow your cedars will be flatpacked and you just set the frame height with the vertical positioning of the the end panels during assembly.ie set them high for bbs and low for tbs

Thanks, made a load of frames up but not made it on to supers yet so its a whole new world out there!

 

[Erichalfbee]

As a Newbie I'll take advice from anyone with a greater experience than myself (which are most!) I'll be disappointed if they are not compatible as I bought the new 12 frame Apolo on advice that they are fully compatible with standard BS gear.

Abelo’s 12 frame footprint is 490mm
National 457mm so not much difference I guess you can live with that. All my cedar boxes are made top space. It’s easy.
But how do you make adjustments for the interlocking function

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As a Newbie I'll take advice from anyone with a greater experience than myself (which are most!) I'll be disappointed if they are not compatible as I bought the new 12 frame Apolo on advice that they are fully compatible with standard BS gear.

they will be compatible with national frames etc, but think about it - the standard cedar national hive takes eleven national frames, the Abelo poly hive takes twelve, thus you have to factor in an extra frame plus different wall thicknesses as they are poly

 

[Rob H]

Abelo’s 12 frame footprint is 490mm
National 457mm so not much difference I guess you can live with that. All my cedar boxes are made top space. It’s easy.
But how do you make adjustments for the interlocking function

Great thanks, I'm pretty competent with my carpentry skills so Im sure the bees won't get tooooo squashed.....

 

[Rob H]

they will be compatible with national frames etc, but think about it - the standard cedar national hive takes eleven national frames, the Abelo poly hive takes twelve, thus you have to factor in an extra frame plus different wall thicknesses as they are poly

I'll compare the wood against the poly before buying and see how it looks

 

[blackcloud]

Poly stuff comes up in sales too-unless you enjoy the thrill of the chase thats probably a better option for now.
Then once youre fuly aquanted with these things take a foray into adaptations without costly mistakes.
You need a good queen to get full supers-perhaps that could be further up the list than more kit?

 

[Rob H]

Poly stuff comes up in sales too-unless you enjoy the thrill of the chase thats probably a better option for now.
Then once youre fuly aquanted with these things take a foray into adaptations without costly mistakes.
You need a good queen to get full supers-perhaps that could be further up the list than more kit?

A couple of over wintered Nuc's inbound in the spring from a reputable supplier so hopefully that ones nailed for next season or even the one after, simply don't want to get caught without enough kit.

 

[Swarm]

Your cedar supers at standard 460mm will sit directly onto the lip of the 12 frame box so you will have a narrow shelf below. I would probably use the frameless wire queen excluder with these hives and if you have enough poly supers, put the cedars above a poly so the excluder is held in place and less risk of things sliding about.
When you make your supers, slide the rail end boards in so that your frame lugs rest on the shelf.

 

[Rob H]

Your cedar supers at standard 460mm will sit directly onto the lip of the 12 frame box so you will have a narrow shelf below. I would probably use the frameless wire queen excluder with these hives and if you have enough poly supers, put the cedars above a poly so the excluder is held in place and less risk of things sliding about.
When you make your supers, slide the rail end boards in so that your frame lugs rest on the shelf.

Thanks, that's defo taking me in the same direction as a couple of others have suggested. Cheers

 

[Erichalfbee]

But why bother? If you have only two hives order another two supers for each save a lot of faffing about.

 

[Rob H]

But why bother? If you have only two hives order another two supers for each save a lot of faffing about.

Thinking aloud and looking to minimise necessary costs where possible in the future.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thinking aloud and looking to minimise necessary costs where possible in the future.

Then keep those two hives, get a couple of old style Abelo boxes with deep roofs, make your own ufe floors and use cedar supers on those.
It’s no different to those beekeepers who have different formats in their apiaries for fun.

 

[Rob H]

Then keep those two hives, get a couple of old style Abelo boxes with deep roofs, make your own ufe floors and use cedar supers on those.
It’s no different to those beekeepers who have different formats in their apiaries for fun.

I recon your pretty well on the money there. The floors are already on the to do list following on from BMH's videos and the brood box and lid is the only part of the system I'm really going to be looking at for poly in the future with regards to the added insulation.

 

[Erichalfbee]

There’s a member here. Who makes deep lids from PIR instead of Abelo ones
That’s another saving. They won’t last as long but they will do pro tem

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

But why bother? If you have only two hives order another two supers for each save a lot of faffing about.

you are going to end up with a 'house that jack built' bodge job with rain water running in everywhere, just for the sake of saving a few quid