Poly hive musings.

[nellyp]

Denrosa/Swienty broods arrived Tuesday 8th. Totally compatiable with all my cedar/deal components inc supers ,roofs and omf's etc. Ordered Sunday from C Wynne Jones and arrived Tuesday pm, service as usual from them 100%.

[prakel]

Do the Swienty/Denrosa Smiths share the same external footprint as their Nationals? I seem to remember reading a post by Murray McGreggor in which he said that the feeders were interchangeable which obviously suggests the same sizing; the idea of trying to search that comment out of his voluminous contributions to BKF is a little daunting....

[gavin]

Yes, we got a couple of Smiths by mistake in an order of Nationals. Same footprint and the only change is in the cut-out where the frames sit. The cut-out is narrower (for the shorter-lugged frames) and deeper (for the top bee space).

[Neils]

Mine did come with metal runners per fitted.

[prakel]

as soon as I put bees in it they started to chew the top of the side walls, they've continued to do this pretty much since day one.

Now they've added propolis to the mix taking the frames out tends to bring some of the poly wall with it.

Generally the poly construction isn't as dense as an apidea and it tends to damage easily as a result. I gather you can treat the hives with varnish? to make them a bit more durable.

I can understand the recommendation to varnish the frame rest area of the Swienty national boxes -maintaining the same external dimensions of the standard wooden hive must create a potential failure point in the polystyrene at that location but I'd imagine the need to varnish the entire box would certainly take the shine off any cost savings over bought wood boxes. Also, as I've said elsewhere (it's a bit of a pet hate of mine) I dislike having to modify brand new equipment, I expect it to be fit for purpose.

[Neils]

i agree with you completely. i might be wrong, but untreated i think these poly hives will do well to last 3-4 seasons. I don't think I'd bother to do the entire inside of the hive, but I haven't looked at it in any great detail. It's a shame in some respects I do think that the Payne's hive is otherwise pretty well thought out, not least that it's compatible with standard national kit, but I think there are a couple of design issues that need addressing right now.

[Jon]

My 7 frame correx nucs will last more than 3-4 seasons and you can make about 50 of them for the price of one Paynes polyhive.
Several nucs I made up a month ago with queens from apideas are now up to 5-6 frames of brood even without the extra insulation of a polyhive.

[prakel]

I return to the Mike Palmer quote I used in the original thread -it's not the box, it's what's in the box.

[Bridget]

Interesting thread. I've been pondering same as I have 2 plywood CBs that got pretty mouldy looking plus a Perspex one which seems create more condensation so was meaning to get a replacement before it got too cold. The Perspex is on a Swienty poly at present.


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[fatshark]

Bridget
You should only get significant condensation on the underside of a perspex crown board if it has insufficient insulation above it ... mine have 2" of Kingspan and no condensation. I use them all year round with no problems. Two years ago - the properly cold winter (whilst acknowledging the West Midlands is not really cold when compared to Kingussie ) - the bees formed a flat pancake shaped cluster covering much of the underside of the perspex crown board, presumably the warmest part of the hive.

I've just sourced another sheet of perspex to build another half dozen over the winter ... at a fraction of the cost of the Thornes offerings.