Rainbow mini

[The Drone Ranger]

Just had a look at my mini nucs which now include 6 Thornes rainbow nucs
I like them for their simplicity and price
I didn't add any foundation strip just used them as they came
Of the 6 though 3 of them only built wax attached to the queen excluder
Most of it inside the feed compartment where the queen can't go
Anyway those have been transfered to keilers now
I will be fitting some starter wax next time though

Anybody else using them ?

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[rogerb]

No I have four Apideas that the mice have customised to some extent or another, so I think next time I will get these ones.

Looks like the frames have a surface that you just need to "paint" a little melted wax on for a comb starter, so a bit less hassle than starter strips on mine?

I only ever use them to mate a few "contingency" queens in case my splits fail for any reason, and when the splits fail they all seem to fail as well, something about Murphy's law I think.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi rogerb
That surface is easy to stick a wax starter to and that's what I will be doing next
They are cheap enough to use and they are good enough for the job
Good point about the risks of setting them all at the same time


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[Adam]

I like the idea of them - no polystyrene to chew through!

My swi-bine mini-nucs have enlarged entrances due to chewing and one will not seal up as bees made a hole in it and escaped.
Wasps went in underneath one a few years ago.
And one of my apideas has wax moth holes in it too

What is the entrance like? I can't see it in the photo.

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Adam
the entrance is underneath like the one on keilers when you slide the floor back a bit

[rogerb]

I think I'd like this to have a rotary disk (like the polynucs I use) so you can switch quickly from open to vent to QE and shut as you feel the need.

I have lost a number of mated queens and bees as they all move off to pastures new from my Apideas and fitting the QE on them is okay but a bit of a faf, though the only way I know to stop HM from leaving.

There is a nice little rotary one on the site that sells the rainbows it would be perfect for me if they would fit that style of entrance to it.

I saw once somebody cutting a hole with hole saw and then gluing in some copper pipe (to stop them chewing the edge), that might be the best solution for me.

[prakel]

I think I'd like this to have a rotary disk (like the polynucs I use) so you can switch quickly from open to vent to QE and shut as you feel the need.

I have lost a number of mated queens and bees as they all move off to pastures new from my Apideas and fitting the QE on them is okay but a bit of a faf, though the only way I know to stop HM from leaving.

The plastic boxes would be easy enough to switch to qe by simply sliding the bottom into the relevant position.

049.jpg050.jpg048.jpg

[The Drone Ranger]

I think I'd like this to have a rotary disk (like the polynucs I use) so you can switch quickly from open to vent to QE and shut as you feel the need.

I have lost a number of mated queens and bees as they all move off to pastures new from my Apideas and fitting the QE on them is okay but a bit of a faf, though the only way I know to stop HM from leaving.

There is a nice little rotary one on the site that sells the rainbows it would be perfect for me if they would fit that style of entrance to it.

I saw once somebody cutting a hole with hole saw and then gluing in some copper pipe (to stop them chewing the edge), that might be the best solution for me.

it has a queen excluder option on the base slider rogerb

IMG_20160705_104436.jpg

[rogerb]

Ah I see now, that looks very good I might give one a try, I am fed up with the bees and mice eating all the polystyrene I own!

many thanks

[The Drone Ranger]

Another thing that might be worth noting is the crown board is fibreboard and a couple of them are showing some mould
That's where stick fingers have been possibly
anyway I'm going to give the crown board a little coating of acrylic emulsion to stop that happening