Yep ! my "new" floors are like yours in the assembly instructions. Mine must have been very early floors. Got them from JOHN MELLIS a couple of years ago.
Yep ! my "new" floors are like yours in the assembly instructions. Mine must have been very early floors. Got them from JOHN MELLIS a couple of years ago.
Last edited by GRIZZLY; 13-01-2013 at 12:04 PM.
The comments regarding rodents are 'near the bone' at present with the carnage that has been inflicted on some of my mini-plus hives over the last month.Originally Posted by gavin
My real concern with the National variant is that narrow upstand -shown very well in the photo of the shoulder being varnished. I have considered the possibility of trying the National but nailing quarter inch ply strips across the outside to add protection. Wouldn't be too much hassle with a nail gun....
Just seems that I'm not going to find a poly hive (with the possible exception of the Swienty Langstroth) that suits my requirements unless I do some kind of modification
Prakel , Never had ANY problems with the thickness of the upstand of the frame recess.If you inflict damage to it during normal frame manipulation ,then you meed to modify your method of loosening frames.I find the hive tool placed between the frames does all the loosening I need and manipulation becomes very easy. Hundreds of these hives are in daily use without problem.
I came to the conclusion that a J hive tool would be a lot easier than my usual one to lever frame against frame - so Thornes are adding one to my sale order as we speak.
Yep got one of those at the honey show last year (2012)
I hadn't really looked at it from a specific frame loosening perspective, just a general concern about a potential weak point. Possibly over thinking something which isn't a problem to begin with but when it comes to spending money on bees I do tend to be very cautious.
If you're buying plastic , you can't do much better than Swienty hives for ease of use , compatability with existing wooden national equipment , simplicity and durability. In the spring I'm changeing over to them (14 colonies).
One thing which is certain is that the trial hives which I'm going to get for this coming season will definately be Swienty as that's the only brand which I haven't seen major concerns about from the people actually using them. Now it's just a case of which one...
I fitted runners to my poly smiths, (swienty) mainly because chiseling the frames out in the spring has always been an issue and was concerned i would damage the shoulders. I fitted a 4mm ply runner on the bottom of the CB and QE. If the pro's don't have any issues not sure I'd bother now
I haven't tried the Poly Hive but was part of a group discussion at the local BKA as to there merit. As part of that discussion someone recommended the liberal application of Vaseline to all the flat surfaces once a year. Apparently this prevents problems with propolis, especially around the runners.
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