Poly hive musings.

[drumgerry]

I'm liking your conversion better than mine fatshark! That integral feeder might be more useful than closing the excess off completely as I've done. This from the man who has spent some time ripping internal feeders out of Paynes nucs to give 8 frame near-hives. I like the Paynes ones as 8 framers but you've given me something to think about with my MB nucs.

[fatshark]

The equivalent feeder on the Everynuc works well. I usually don't bother with syrup but instead simply drop in large slices of fondant (though I've sealed these new ones with melted wax anyway). I also butchered my Paynes boxes … they're better as 8 frame boxes and light enough to hold at arms length up a ladder when catching swarms

[drumgerry]

Ah yes swarms....I've heard of those. Something to do with bees and trees aren't they?!

[Black Comb]

I need to do this with some of my Swienty polynucs.
How did you fix the ply? Was it just a tight fit or did you nail or glue?

[drumgerry]

I screwed through from the outside Black Comb but I'm sure a tight press fit, to be followed by the bees and some propolis, would have been sufficient.

[fatshark]

My DIY 'tolerances' are generally pretty poor, some of the ply fitted well, other bits did not … the ply is therefore fixed using two screws through the end panel of the nuc box. Due to the internal mouldings on these boxes - which I wanted to retain - there is a stripwood spacer on the back face of each piece of ply. The screws only need to be sunk into this spacer by a few millimetres. I made some crappy wooden 'load spreaders' as I didn't have any suitable washers … in due course (i.e. once they rot away completely) these will be replaced with something more permanent. Without doing this it's easy to bury the screw into the relatively soft poly.

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Note added … I've used Gorilla glue and Screwfix 'Mega Grip' or similar quite successfully when butchering other poly boxes, but wanted this to be easily reversible.

[drumgerry]

You need to get the beekeepers friend Fatshark aka a small-ish table saw. I couldn't saw a straight line in anything by hand but it's a doddle with this. Add in a cross cut mitre saw and you're properly sorted!

[fatshark]

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Bloodloss I can cope with … digits (or limbs) I need. I'll stick with my tenon saw and bread knife

PS for the squeamish … the picture is of prosthetic fingers. No digits were harmed in the writing of this post.

[Black Comb]

Thanks.
I am of the same ilk as Gerry, table saw is my friend.
I think somewhere in the past I have seen bluetack mentioned but not sure if this was a serious suggestion.

[Poly Hive]

So you are not too handy and want a fit and be able to reverse it. Silicone works here.

I have a pain hive and it is getting sold on this year. It's a total pain and the bees do not like it. I am dumping another brand too. Pure Swienty from now on.

PH