Which hive would you get?

[Queens59]

Try Freecycle for a WBC - that is where I got mine - which the bees seem to love. I was putting a National together the other day and a few of my bees came and looked at it...and I'm sure I heard giggling as they left! Also, but SERIOUSLY...if you have a bad back either raise it higher than the legs...or buy a National!

 

[Skyhook]

...if you have a bad back either raise it higher than the legs...or buy a National!

If you can't raise it higher than the legs, that is a SERIOUSLY bad back! Even HP is now above horizontal!

 

[RoofTops]

Take costs into account before making a decision. WBCs are pretty but a new one can be eye-wateringly expensive.

 

[ladyrose1956]

i have two nationals easy to use and easy to build if you want to expand but after all it is down to personal choice and how much time you have when you want to inspect the hives wbc for me is a lot of work to get inside but they look good the national are practional the choice is yours good luck

 

[rowbow]

Have you thought of the Werra octaganel, easey to use in a small garden.
John

 

[onriver]

I'm going to try the OSB this year on the grounds of practicality and to test the system - it also seems the cheapest wooden box out there, especially if you make it yourself - no need for brood v super decisions when buying kit
Still keeping my 4 nationals though!

 

[Hivemaker.]

no need for brood v super decisions

No need for those decisions with a national,and frames are a standard size obtainable from many places.

 

[onriver]

absolutely true, which is why I'm happy with my 4 nationals, just curious about a system that uses the same frame size for both and encourages swapping as needed rather than having 2 parallel systems to buy frames / foundation for - also interested in the reasoning behind no QE - seems disturbingly logical!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Use all national brood box's then,and no excluders,all same size box's and frames.

 

[oliver90owner]

I'm going to try the OSB this year on the grounds of practicality

On the grounds of practicality, just check that your extractor will cope with that size frame, or you may be acquiring tangential screens - if you have a radial extractor without them.

RAB

 

[onriver]

happy to concede Hivemaker's point and, as I've to buy an extractor this year, could get one able to cope with sizes up to brood frame. The counter to using only brood boxes is, I think, only about the weight of a BB full of honey but my backs not that bad and my hives are close by seems brood frames and foundation (I can build the rest, I hope) are cheaper than Th.....s OSB ones, given the extra area anyway. Any thing I've missed???

 

[oliver90owner]

Any thing I've missed???

Only the financial aspect of an extractor able to take brood frames radially, if you don't want to put up with tangential extraction. 4 colonies - not too bad doing them tangentially, 3 frames at a time, I suppose (and how well do Hoffmans stand up to extraction tangentially?). Ask for recommendations if you intend to expand further. (WPC is looking at this very problem at the moment, I believe).

Regards, RAB

 

[Nellie]

If I hadnt have inherited a big pile of national gear I think I'd be tempted to have gone with Langstroth boxes and I'd definitely use supers rather than brood boxes for honey. Don't have bad back either and I'd quite like to keep it that way.

 

[Andy Coleman]

My first was (still is!) a WBC because it was in our garden for the first season and my wife insisted on a "proper" looking hive. It's done really well over winter, moved it to a farm site in March and they are roaring away. I think if your site is at all exposed then the added insulation of a WBC helps - I know the old saw that it's starvation kills bees, not cold, but surely in the cold they need more stores which increases the chance of runnign out, or the cluster getting separated from useable stores.

Another objection to WBCs is they are more work, which is obviously true with the lifts - but if you're only looking after a few hives as a hobbyist, then I don't think this matters, for me half the pleasure is being out in the open air working with them!

The only think I would do differently is not go to brood & half - there is a real problem with WBC because the smalleer brood box may not be enough for many modern strains, but I wish I had gone to double brood, or even deep brood whcih you can get for WBC.

There's good argument for double brood - everything is interchangeable, and you can manipulate to phase out old otherwise unwanted comb.