Poly Hives - State of play

Monsieur Abeille said:

Can only speak about the Pa*nes, but I'm very happy with my 14x12. The new feeder is a huge improvement too and worked well for me last year.

That said, I'm not evangelical about poly for polys sake - two of my three are cedar and I've no huge desire to change them.

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Thanks for all the feedback, plenty of food for thought. There's our local bee fair in a couple of weeks time which is when I'm looking to make the decision about hives. AFAIK Paynes are going to be there so I can take a look (and more importantly have my wife look, as at the moment it's quaint WBCs or nothing!) I suspect that no matter what I choose with hindsight I'll wish I'd gone with something different!

@itma I did assume that Langs would be standardised. Nothing I've read so far gave the game away about them not being although most of my reading has been around Nationals. I'm surprised there's not atleast a European standard.

My swienty national. Roof and floor are home made, the roof has built in insulation and the floor is OMF with under floor entrance, wooden supers. Cleaner lines and much neater than the paynes.

itma said:

…

There are only three remaining idiosyncrasies with Paynes hives
- the floppy cover sheet. Get a nice framed, no-hole, polycarbonate crownboard/"quilt".
- you can only put a brood box (not a poly shallow) directly onto the floor (if you want to do that, you need to get your saw out and make some simple 'modifications'!)
- moulding process indents on the top surface of the boxes. Be prepared to use some polyfilla material for a better finish (not necessary, but IMHO worthwhile).
…

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Just to update.
Since posting the above in April, I've learned the trick of not cutting off the corner upstands, but just putting a small (Apiguard?) eke on the floor allows you to put a Paynes poly shallow under a brood.
There is a simple alternative to 'modification'.

Could we do a sticky with full pros and cons of each polyhive type?

A little like ITMA's nice write up earlier in the tread on the pros & cons with Paynes national polys but with the other makes as well.

itma said:

Just to update.
Since posting the above in April, I've learned the trick of not cutting off the corner upstands, but just putting a small (Apiguard?) eke on the floor allows you to put a Paynes poly shallow under a brood.
There is a simple alternative to 'modification'.

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Nice idea.

farbee said:

Could we do a sticky with full pros and cons of each polyhive type?

A little like ITMA's nice write up earlier in the tread on the pros & cons with Paynes national polys but with the other makes as well.

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Good idea. It is inevitable that it would be rather commercial, manufacturers and who stocks what. That has been regarded with suspicion here before, as potential for free publicity. But as long as we keep it fairly neutral tone, it's probably more help than harm.

Not so easy to keep track of as it might first appear, updates are happening all the time. For instance the Swienty boxes have a new version (since Spring 2014?) with hard plastic inserts as frame rails. This contrasts with the previous version with flat supports that many would want to treat with vaseline. Some retailers have been selling off older stock at discount. Fair enough, but be aware of what you're buying.

Just to update.
Since posting the above in April, I've learned the trick of not cutting off the corner upstands, but just putting a small (Apiguard?) eke on the floor allows you to put a Paynes poly shallow under a brood.
There is a simple alternative to 'modification'.

Sorry itma, I don't understand. Do Paynes produce an eke that can be placed on their floor? I am interested in running a couple of colonies on shallow boxes next year (single size boxes as per the Rose Method) and so would welcome a way round cutting of the corner upstands.

Thanks

farbee said:

Could we do a sticky with full pros and cons of each polyhive type?

A little like ITMA's nice write up earlier in the tread on the pros & cons with Paynes national polys but with the other makes as well.

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Back in June '13 I started a thread for 'constructive' feedback on Paynes poly's.

I think the thread progressed in the intended way and we fed back our likes or issues with the hive design.

I was surprised that no one did a similar thread on the other brands so that we could make an informed choice when needed.

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=23938

3bees said:

Just to update.
Since posting the above in April, I've learned the trick of not cutting off the corner upstands, but just putting a small (Apiguard?) eke on the floor allows you to put a Paynes poly shallow under a brood.
There is a simple alternative to 'modification'.

Sorry itma, I don't understand. Do Paynes produce an eke that can be placed on their floor? I am interested in running a couple of colonies on shallow boxes next year (single size boxes as per the Rose Method) and so would welcome a way round cutting of the corner upstands.

Thanks

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3bees,

I think Itma is using a wooden national eke which will fit inside the lugs.

Unless I'm way out of date P's don't do an eke for this purpose.

Just cut the lugs off, they don't serve any real purpose. Fitting a shallow eke inside and level with the lugs may be ok to over winter but I'd expect some comb drawn out into the greater space it creates below the frames during the season.

I don't get it, why not buy kit that is compatible with each outer the, company's will soon learn what we want and gear up there manufacturing to accommodate this , mix and match or stay as there stand alone model .

yeogi75 said:

I don't get it,

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Variety is the spice of life, keep diversity alive.