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Thread: Poly hive musings.

  1. #681
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Welsh lady bee View Post
    ...
    I am unable to remove the deep roof to get at the super in order to take off honey. I can only think the roof is heavily propolised onto the super. Does anyone have an idea how I can get the roof off without damaging it?
    It might be propolis - but don’t you have a crown board between the super and the roof?

    I’ve found that sometimes the white plugs can wedge the roof tight, and I then have to lever it off with my hands pressing up into the roof and down on the box handle (sorry - this is a mangled sentence!). I don’t think you need to worry about damaging the roof.

    Kitta

  2. #682
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    Quote Originally Posted by Welsh lady bee View Post
    I have been very pleased with my Abelo hive - had it for a year and the swarm I overwintered in it did fine (actually as did my WBC hives). However, this summer
    I am unable to remove the deep roof to get at the super in order to take off honey. I can only think the roof is heavily propolised onto the super. Does anyone have an idea how I can get the roof off without damaging it?
    My guess is wild comb, anything without ample space this summer has built comb and packed it with honey wherever they can jam it in. If so the way to get it off is brute force, it may need another pair of hands to hold the box underneath if the whole lot starts lifting. Be prepared to deal with lots of sticky mess, a foodsafe bucket with a lid and a goose wing would be in my armoury.

  3. #683
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I suspect you've left the 'ventilation covers' off the crownboard so that the bees have access to the roof space.
    Try gently sliding a hive tool between the roof and the super and prising it slightly. Try on a hot day when the propolis is warm. Perhaps even better try with something wider than a hive tool so the pressure is spread over a wider area. Repeat on as many sides of the roof as you can access.

    In my experience the roofs are a bit fragile ... I've had a couple blow off and get damaged. Deep they may be, but once they take flight they are light and travel a long way ... and land with a crash

  4. #684
    Senior Member Mellifera Crofter's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mellifera Crofter View Post
    ...

    I’ve found that sometimes the white plugs can wedge the roof tight ...
    I’m quoting myself - but I realised I wasn’t clear: I meant the side plugs, not the plugs on the crown board. The side ones sometimes stick out a bit too far, and the roof becomes stuck on them when tightening the roof with a strap.

  5. #685
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    It might be easier to make contact with Ailens than to get a reply on this forum but I can always live in Hope!
    My hives are Smiths and it’s the only type I have ever worked with. But after our often long cool and wet winters some of them can get quite damp and mouldy on the insides. So I have been thinking about trying out poly hives for a wee while now because my bees do well in the poly nucs I’ve had for the last few years.
    I was actually on the Abelo website looking for a new smoker when I came across their 12 frame National poly hives and decided to take the plunge. The hives are home so here’s my first impressions before the bees move in. This is the latest version of this hive.
    My likes
    The fact you can get them painted.
    The room under the roof for a mini feeder to sit on the crownboard without the need for an eke or empty super.
    The design of the mini feeder and the fact that it holds about the same as my round plastic feeders.
    The rebates on the boxes and the top bee space.
    The floor with a deep tight fitting under tray and a choice of entrance options.
    My dislikes
    The vent hole bungs.
    The queen excluder sits flush on top of the frames.

    This hive has been designed to stop water ingress and to keep the bees warm and dry which was the main selling point for me. But despite having top bee space l’m very disappointed that the wire queen excluder sits on top of the frames and is tricky to prise up. I have always been used to having bee space under the excluders in my Smith hives but now I’ll have to be a lot more careful. I’m going to work the hives with 11 frames and a dummy the cold way because old habits die hard. Also I’ve fitted a strip of wood along the frame runners to stop my short lugged frames from moving about and crushing the bees on the side bars. I’m really looking forward to trying out this hive so I will keep you posted.
    PS I have just ordered another one.

    https://www.abelo.co.uk/shop/nationa...nal-poly-hive/
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by lindsay s; 14-05-2021 at 01:54 AM.

  6. #686
    Senior Member Adam's Avatar
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    All credit to Abelo for 'continuous improvement' of their hives. However I think I will hang on a little more before taking the Abelo plunge - I have reverted to cedar for now. Let us know what you think of them when you can. Last year I bought three Abelo Mini Plus hives after getting fed up with absconding mini-nucs. I have just received two more which is all I was allowed to order.

  7. #687
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    Of course ... their continuous improvement means that last (or is it last but one?) iteration of their design is not compatible My Abelo hives don't have the rebate (and won't because the old Paradise/Modern Beekeeping design had a lip or skirt and I hated it so much I vowed to only buy 'flat' hives from now on) and I'm not aware of problems with water ingress. They do generate a lot of condensation, so I'll be interested to hear how Lindsay gets on with them 'up North'.

  8. #688
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    Quote Originally Posted by fatshark View Post
    They do generate a lot of condensation, so I'll be interested to hear how Lindsay gets on with them 'up North'.
    I don’t find condensation a problem with my poly Everynucs. In my Smith hives I leave mesh over the holes in the crownboards and find the under sides of roofs are often soaking wet by the springtime. (No insulation in between) They are on solid floors by the way. Contrary to most opinions my bees don’t seal up the mesh.
    First question. I thought any condensation might have been dissipated by the the open mesh floor or does it lie on the under side of the crownboard.
    Second question. Would it be worth leaving the main central hole in the crown board uncovered and opening up a couple of the vent holes in the Abelo roof. The OMF floor has a tight fitting under tray but there’ll be some draught from the entrance. Our winters are long and damp but I would rather not create a wind tunnel if it’s not necessary.
    Last edited by lindsay s; 21-05-2021 at 10:08 AM.

  9. #689
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    I don't think any of the condensation I see is a problem.

    In Everynucs I see some on the underside of the flimsy clear crownboard they provide. In the Abelo's I've got it accumulates behind the frame runner, in the rebate for the lugs. You can just about see the reflection of the meniscus in this rather poor photograph.

    191015-006.jpg

    I think this has been discussed before here and it was pointed out to me (by Kitta - Mellifera Crofter - I think) that this was because the runners are molded and extend to the end walls, there's no gap for the water to run away as there is in hives with separate runners.

    My boxes spend most of the winter with OMF open and a block of Kingspan on top of the crownboard (even the Abelo poly's ... the Kingspan is actually present all year). I close up as many holes in their perforated crownboard as I can, and the bees usually seal up the rest. My overwintering success rate is perfectly acceptable as far as I'm concerned - the only losses this winter were failed queens.

    The only hives I saw any mould in this winter were weak colonies.

    As I said at the beginning, I don't consider the condensation an issue ... sorry if mentioning it caused concerns.

    Two final thoughts/observations ...

    1. I'm pretty certain that the condensation is worse in the hives I have inside a bee shed (this doesn't apply to nucs as these are all outside usually). This may be because they are less well ventilated. They have OMF's but there's less air circulation in the shed. The entrance is only 1" in diameter.

    2. I may have mixed up the spelling of mould and mold ... I usually do

    Cheers.

  10. #690
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    Thanks for the advice Fatshark.
    As I’ve said before I’ve often found dampness / moisture between the frame runners and the sides of my Smith hives as well as dozens of Slaters. The only condensation l occasionally find in the Everynucs is just above the feeders but not over frames unless I’m having a peep on a cold day and the crownboards soon cloud over. The new Abelo crownboards only have one large central hole and a smaller feeder hole which both have plugs. After many years of my bees just having draughty wooden crownboards and not having winter losses I think I’ll give the Kingspan a miss in my new poly hives this year.
    My bees have now been in the Abelo’s for just over a week and as they were low on stores I gave them a feed. I’m hoping to inspect them in the next few days. They were in over wintered nucs which had been united with colonies that I had made queenless.
    You might think I worry too much about my bees but I had no qualms in dispatching two older queens last week. One was very swarmy and the other had bad tempered bees so it was time for them to go. The weather looks like improving at last but none of my hives have their first super yet!
    Last edited by lindsay s; 25-05-2021 at 11:22 PM.

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