Poly hive queen excluders and varroa floors

[fatshark]

In fairness, not tried properly ... I will.
Most of my colonies have perspex crownboards. If I deliver at the base of the brood box and see billowing clouds through the crownboard I know it's being distributed well. More difficult to test the other way round.
I usually leave the vaporiser hanging out by the spout as I prepare the next hive in the row. The weight of the brood box holds things together. I'd have to find a solution to this with the eke on top. Not insurmountable though ...

[Adam]

I was an early experimenter with poly hives. The Paynes one can sit on a National floor but in order to use a National roof you need to put a wooden super on the top first. I have sold my Paynes hive now. Good design in some parts, poor in others (too soft, no handles, that HUGE floor). My MB / Paradise hive is now only used as an overwintering hive. I have two brood boxes and when used separately one fits on a National floor with a WBC eke in between (!) I have made a plywood crown board with ahole so I can use a feeder. (Not particularly inventive but the manufacturers failed to supply one!). I have a slightly over-sized ply and celotex roof that works on a wooden National too. The bee-slaughter strip for the top bars to fit on is simply stupid I assume that it was actually designed for this hive ? and there are bee space issues with the design. I will probably flog mine at some point. I am not doing a very good selling job for it am I?
I am wary of spending money on more polyhives unless I can see them for myself first so apart from the initial purchases I have spent nothing more on the poly's. (And I don't like the floppy plastic crown boards. They are not good to clean and as they flop onto the top bars it means that there is no bee space (propolis ahoy!).
At the association auction this year an Abello hive didn't even get a bid!

[fatshark]

The Paradise hives (what a misnomer) make perfectly good bait hives. That's all I use mine for these days. I bought 2 complete hives each with two supers. This gives me four bait hives, using two stacked supers. I botched floors and roofs from Correx. I threw the QE away in disgust.

I'd feel really guilty selling them on to an unsuspecting new beekeeper ... especially now there's no QE

I wonder why the Abelo didn't get a bid? The poly seems nice and dense. They're ready painted and the interface between boxes is well protected. Other than the silly number of inserts, ventilation plugs etc., they looked OK. I'll reserve judgement until next season.

[alancooper]

At the association auction this year an Abello hive didn't even get a bid!

Why no interest in Abelo? I have tried the Paynes/Swienty hives and still have them, but I favour the Abelo (dense, National friendly, deep roof, hard plastic top/bottom to boxes).

[Poly Hive]

I had an Abelo Langstroth some years ago which I ended up giving away. Over four seasons with two different colonies the bees failed to thrive and certainly didn't get strong enough to need supering. I have no idea why but the material felt very different to the poly I am used to. That might be your answer.

PH

[Mellifera Crofter]

I have (or had) an assortment of poly Nationals, and prefer Abelo best of all. It has no management problems as a result of poorly thought-out bee spaces as in the new Swienty Nationals. The poly is denser than the 100g/l of Swienty. Abelo has not been able to tell me whether it is, as a consequence, less insulating - but I haven't seen any difference in how the bees thrive between Abelo or Swienty.
Kitta

[fatshark]

I'm just finishing the first season with a bunch of Abelo boxes which are my only all poly boxes. I have other mixed Sweinty + wood combinations. I get much more condensation in the Abelo boxes. I'm not aware of it in Sweinty+perspex crownboard+insulation. In the Abelo boxes there are often little puddles underneath the frame lugs.

I've had to get a second shed to keep all the little plug in ventilation blocks Perhaps I should use them instead?

[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, I have noticed puddles in the lug gully, but I don't think it matters. They're little drinking troughs for the bees if they need it.

Perhaps the same would have happened in Swienties, but because of the small gaps between the ends of the lugs and hive wall, the water drips away, and one doesn't notice it?

I like the holes in the sides. They're handy to create a top entrance when needed. I have thought of using the ventilation plugs to create a kind of entrance reducer for the top opening - but I haven't done that yet. Next summer ...

Kitta