Queen rearing pics

[drumgerry]

A picture of glaikit me with cell raising bar and 11 of 20 sealed queen cells from today's Spey Beekeepers meeting.HH-7.jpg

[Dark Bee]

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a couple more mini plus photos and one of our three-way boxes.

Thank you for the photos Prakel. I found them to be inspirational; my two Paynes nucs. are now going to be housed in a purpose built box. Incredibly the center of the polystyrene roof is scarcely 1/2" thick. The clear plastic crown board is 3/8" too small in both directions and will sag with top bee space Thin as the "crown board" is, it lifts the roof and makes it even more unstable. I have seen better lids on a shoe box. With a little more thought and probably with less cost a much superior box could have been designed, it is a such a shame this did not happen.

[drumgerry]

At 1/2 inch thick probably still better insulation than the ply/metal combo most wooden hives use Dark Bee!

[mbc]

Thank you for the photos Prakel.

I'll second that, its great to see this thread veering towards a mini plus appreciation society group hug !

[prakel]

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A couple of photos of a mini nuc designed by my nephew (I'd almost given up on mixing bees and nephews after a couple of negative attempts and then along came a 'natural' if ever there was...). The box is actually designed to hold two mating colonies with a division board feeder (seen pushed against the back wall in these photos).

Room for a few modifications (which have already been done: photos not available at present) but over all a simple design to replicate.

8" top bars to put it in perspective.

[prakel]

Great stuff In pic number 2 and 3 the frame sides look black or painted in some way
Is that a trade secret or just coincidental ?

DR - I have one of those (unused so far) and the frame sides are black plastic. I believe the design may have changed now to wooden side bars.

DR, as drumgerry's answer although I'll take the liberty of adding that there are advantages and disadvantages to them. The main down side to my thinking is that the sides have a tendancy after a few years to warp outwards at the bottom which results in the bottom bar hanging loose and the frame sides scuffing along the wall as you remove the frame. Not the end of the world and the new wooden frames that they're supplying will definitely resolve that issue.

The positive side of those frames is that they use two pieces of wood as a top bar which is housed inside the frame lugs. This is designed to allow you to 'trap' your foundation but is also really useful if you want to catch a wild cell as it allows a piece of comb to be fitted into the frame in the same way.

[Dark Bee]

At 1/2 inch thick probably still better insulation than the ply/metal combo most wooden hives use Dark Bee!

There might well not be a great deal in it Drumgerry, but a traditional type roof nowadays probably has 2" of polystyrene over the crown board which will reduce the u value very substantially. The problems with the nuc. roof relate not only to it's lack of substance but also to the how easily it falls/blows off accompanied by the undersized piece of plastic underneath. I want to make it clear these are my own views, I am commenting on what I see and the manufacturers are entirely unknown to me. I would be delighted if it had been possible to describe the item as being eminently suitable for purpose.

[The Drone Ranger]

Thanks prakel I'm definitely going to explore the Mini Hives when funds allow :

[prakel]

Thanks prakel I'm definitely going to explore the Mini Hives when funds allow :

Hi Drone Ranger, there is another version (also called mini-plus) on the market -made by Swienty as far as I know. I'm not sure whether the frames are interchangeable but they're both based around the idea of a half length dadant shallow frame (the Lyson top bar is actually a little longer than a true half length). The potential upside of the Swienty version is that the different hive components are sold separately so a combined order with a few others (or piggy backed on someone else's order) to get around the shipping could see you getting the brood bodies for approx £10 each (£12 each for a single order of 10 delivered by UPS), of course, you'd have to make your own floors and insulated roofs as well as frames but I think that it could be quite a cost effective way to put together a top quality mating hive.

http://www.swienty.com/shop/vare.asp...&vareid=113254

[drumgerry]

I do think you're being a tad unfair DB but you're perfectly entitled to your opinion. My opinion - like any other modern hive roof design (wood or poly) it benefits from a brick sitting on top. Probably more so as it's made from poly. But it's less easy to dislodge in strong winds than the Modern Beekeeping poly nuc roof for instance. I won't say that I wouldn't be glad if it was another inch thicker. I think that would be a great design improvement. But I think that, with the feeder cut out and replaced with a removeable frame feeder, they're a great low cost nuc. And there's no reason a 50mm section of Kingspan can't be sat on top of the roof (with brick on top!) to make up any deficit in insulation.