Using the new polynucs

[Kate Atchley]

Bought some of the new Paynes' polynucs to try this year, one of which has been occupied for a couple of weeks now. Here are some thoughts about them:

• I noticed the bees found it hard to find the entrance at first. I'm considering painting the recessed entrance a different colour.

• Also, I now have a board in place under the entrance which deters bees running back and onto the mesh underneath. The first night, a number of bees settled under the mesh floor where they died in the gales.

• It's very hard to avoid squashing bees when putting on the roof or lowering frames into place (no bee space under the lugs). So I'm thinking of using some kind of crown board - cardboard probably - and fitting plastic frame runners to allow bee space under the lugs.

• The bees had built brace comb above one frame, up to the roof, so opening up caused quite a kerfuffle and lots of unhappy bees. A crown board would deter them from this.

• The polynuc blew over in the gales last week despite big stones on top ... it's pretty light. You may be wise to strap them down and weight them heavily.

• I hadn't painted the inside of the feeder but there was only one dead bee in it when I went to refill it today. So it seems they can run up and down the sides fairly easily when it's empty. It takes an unexpectedly large amount of syrup - more than 2.75 lt.

A useful piece of kit I reckon, but improved with these simple adaptations.

Anyone else got experience of these ... more suggestions?

Kate