Just received an Abelo poly national (I am slowly converting from wooden nationals to poly). The internal finish was less than good (and largely unpainted). Be aware that there is no Q excluder. The hard plastic tops and bottoms on the boxes and floor legs should surely make for longevity but I am not sure how wind sturdy the hive will be - the plastic slips easily - it may need a breeze block on top in our winter storms.
Straps, Alan - straps.Originally Posted by alancooper
Kitta
propolis
Straps having the great advantage they hold the hive together if it is washed away in a flood :-) or blown over.. Given the ease of use of ratchet straps, and their cheapness at sale time (£2?), a no brainer.
Reading this thread with its list of modifications ,and problems that have to be overcome ,I'm impressed at the lengths folk are prepared to go to
Using cedar Smith hives is so boringly simple
Is there anything I can do to complicate things without resorting to buying poly hives?
Yes - propolis and straps of courseBut until poly design stabilises there will be minor hassles with each design. Overall, however, the poly hive route is the one I am content with.
Alan.
I've been tinkering around with the Payne's Polys to get things better after dropping a brood box last season
I scoured you tube & found a guy cutting hand holds for langstroths using a jig & a circular saw
The jig was fairly easy to knock up & cuts a good hold into the poly
It's a very quick modification once the jig is made & there's plenty of meat on the poly to do
it on the rail walls
Iv'e also abandoned their floors & make them out of wood so that I can flame them in Spring
To improve the roof I get plastic garden trays attatch to a super & fill with kingspan offcuts
This gives a deep insulated roof with an overhang to keep some of the rain out. (well any rain that's not horizontal in EK anyway)
Dearer than the original but I think its worth doing
In my apiary I have found the winter mortality seems less than in the cedar boxes (judging by the amount of dead bees on the floor in Spring)
Bit more work than off the peg but with their broods at £17 ish it's a cheap hive
Following on from the new boxes being offered by 'modern beekeeping', it appears that Maisemore are now adding a commercial polyhive to their range which may explain their choice of the larger footprint of their nationals, but not seen a photo of the commercials yet -just speculating that they're all going to be interchangeable.
Lol! There must be something. Cut the feeder out of Paynes nucs if you have any and glue them into the Smiths? If you stop by at the association apiary some time I can show you Marshall Croall's special bolts in the side of his Smiths which allow a hand-hold metal bracket to be slipped on and off. Unfortunately he never gave me the brackets but they looked great for carrying hives.
I have bees in around 40 Paynes nucs (newer design and unaltered). They overwintered really well and all have hot crownboards at the moment. OK, top feeders are better than the side ones and some of the latter are less than wholesome with dead bees and syrup needing discarded but with the judicious use of a thumb for the less propolised frames you can tip the whole thing over and even rinse it out with bees in the box.
Bought one of Maisies new nuc with overhead feeder at Beetradex - for our Association.
Very nice design..
Looks better than Paynes - stronger roof so less prone to buckling under weights..
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