Varnish for poly hive frame rests

[beebopalula]

Which type / make of varnish do poly hive users find is most suitable for frame rests?

 

[sipa]

Just fit rails, far better !

 

[DulwichGnome]

I use this,
http://tinyurl.com/b8c8otb
It's water based, very little smell and it's surprising how much soaks in on the first coat, 2h later apply the second, job done.

Mike.

 

[Finman]

.
Polyhives have hard plastic slices for that purpose.

.

 

[Teemore]

.
Polyhives have hard plastic slices for that purpose.

.

Unfortunately some of the polyhive offerings (National Hives) in the UK and Ireland do not have these fitted as standard......

 

[Poly Box]

I use exterior varnish or yacht varnish. Not sure what the difference is. I have had national poly's for last ten years and no problems with varnish. A smear of vasilene once dry makes for easy removal of frames.

 

[mbc]

A smear of vasilene once dry

helps in many situations

 

[Into the lions den]

Unfortunately some of the polyhive offerings (National Hives) in the UK and Ireland do not have these fitted as standard......

Yes, and they are not strictly necessary either. Some of our oldest boxes are now 16 years in service and still fine, and will probably see me out. (German ones, Warnholz) They were our experimental ones and were never even painted.

However, when we did the first mould for the National and Smith it was very much done to be an economical choice and the moving part moulds that enable the insertion of plastic rails were only in their infancy for bee boxes and very expensive indeed. We had no idea whether there would even be adequate interest in them.

Similar pattern boxes in use in Europe, without rails, did not really need varnishing on the frame rest area, and actually neither do these. Our original factsheets on care of poly boxes specified that there should be polyurethane varnish, propaby more than one coat, applied to the rebate area AND the bottom edges of the same sides. The main reason for this was to make it hard for the bees to start to chew at the material, atracted by the light penetrating the translucent material at that part, where the wall was thin, and the surfaces that meet it. The toughening up of the rebate area by varnishing to enable scraping and cleaning is a secondary, although still significant, benefit.

The plastic rails are a double edged 'benefit'. They do, when new, allow frames to slide when you would rather they did not on even imperceptibly small slopes, and those boxes without rails, designed with a higher ledge instead, are actually at least as good for speed of manipulation. If I was making a new mould for myself today I would actually do without the rails.

Bear in mind in our own unit we only have short lugged frames.

 

[beebreeder]

I have bought a pallet of the Pxxxxs Nationals and they use the standard metal runners that are used in wooden ware, no mention of varnish just a couple of coats of smooth masonry paint

 

[Ely]

helps in many situations

 

[Teemore]

The suggestion that vaseline be used is a very good tip. During 2012 I ran into problems with a couple of hives where frame ends were propolised to the poly-hive wall during August when i wasn't inspecting on a weekly basis. When I did inspect, some of the frames came out of the Brood boxes with bits of the hive wall still attached to the end of the frame lug. Be aware of this as a risk. It will be interesting to see whether the bees have stuck frame ends to hive walls over the winter and whether i can cleanly remove frames without too much fuss.
ITLD - your comment about only using short lugged frames is not wasted and reflects some of my thinking.
My biggest problem with Polyhives last year was damage caused by other parties inspecting stocks of bees when I was not present. I consider they were a little 'incautious' in the way they separated boxes and in one instance, where they placed a lit smoker....

 

[sipa]

Letting other people play with your bees and hives presents all sorts of risks, unless you trust their skill level !

 

[Easy Beesy]

Letting other people play with your bees and hives presents all sorts of risks, unless you trust their skill level !

Sorry, have I missed a bit? What's that about?

 

[Luminos]

The suggestion that vaseline be used is a very good tip. During 2012 I ran into problems with a couple of hives where frame ends were propolised to the poly-hive wall during August when i wasn't inspecting on a weekly basis. When I did inspect, some of the frames came out of the Brood boxes with bits of the hive wall still attached to the end of the frame lug. Be aware of this as a risk. It will be interesting to see whether the bees have stuck frame ends to hive walls over the winter and whether i can cleanly remove frames without too much fuss.
ITLD - your comment about only using short lugged frames is not wasted and reflects some of my thinking.
My biggest problem with Polyhives last year was damage caused by other parties inspecting stocks of bees when I was not present. I consider they were a little 'incautious' in the way they separated boxes and in one instance, where they placed a lit smoker....

That bit?

 

[Teemore]

Bee Inspectors. Not amateurs or 'guests'. The expectation is that they would have adequate skill levels to manage different hive types.

 

[Swarm]

Bee Inspectors. Not amateurs or 'guests'. The expectation is that they would have adequate skill levels to manage different hive types.

Quite.