Thinking of next season

[badger65]

I am hopefully about to move and will be able to accommodate a few more hives. I have been toying with the idea of trying polyhives but am to sure. I note that lots of people love them and some hate them. Whats the general consensus?

Which polyhives do people prefer/recommend? because there are a few.

 

[user 6228]

I am hopefully about to move and will be able to accommodate a few more hives. I have been toying with the idea of trying polyhives but am to sure. I note that lots of people love them and some hate them. Whats the general consensus?

Which polyhives do people prefer/recommend? because there are a few.

There's a talk in Basingstoke next Thursday on the thermal performance of various makes of poly hives and how they compare to wood and tree nests , implications with chalkbrood, nosema and varroa, plus other related stuff

 

[itma]

…
Which polyhives do people prefer/recommend? because there are a few.

Lots of threads on that specific subject in the "Beehive Types" section of the forum http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=5 and I've just updated one of them.

 

[oliver90owner]

You have given the consensus in your starter - lots of people love them and some hate them.

Little point in going through it all again. Just depends on whether you are with the 'lots' or 'some'.
Taking a consensus woud indicate the former.

Or am I being to simplistic?

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

There's a talk in Basingstoke next Thursday on the thermal performance of various makes of poly hives and how they compare to wood and tree nests , implications with chalkbrood, nosema and varroa, plus other related stuff

There can be only The One speaker on that array of topics...

I give my bees the choice. Insulated poly up, cedar down. SBI hates it but the bees seem not to.

I like to burn some stores to get thymol flowing and clear out ivy, but get them off to an early start.

 

[masterBK]

Do green woodpeckers attack poly hives ? If so, is the damage extensive or just minor and easily repairable?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Do green woodpeckers attack poly hives ? If so, is the damage extensive or just minor and easily repairable?

...But all of the pictures have now gone...http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=8603

 

[itma]

Do green woodpeckers attack poly hives ? If so, is the damage extensive or just minor and easily repairable?

They do attack them. I've seen the result at the club apiary.

As a non-carpenter, the idea of repairing with foam filler and suitable 'shuttering' seems much less onerous than fixing a hole in a wooden hive side.


Just to note that poly roofs (being without metalwork) are vulnerable to attack.
The pecker couldn't get through the second layer of the floppy clear plastic coversheet, but it made a hole in the roof before making the hole in the side wall …
So, don't forget to protect poly roofs, if you have bee-eating peckers locally.

 

[user 6228]

They do attack them. I've seen the result at the club apiary.

As a non-carpenter, the idea of repairing with foam filler and suitable 'shuttering' seems much less onerous than fixing a hole in a wooden hive side.


Just to note that poly roofs (being without metalwork) are vulnerable to attack.
The pecker couldn't get through the second layer of the floppy clear plastic coversheet, but it made a hole in the roof before making the hole in the side wall …
So, don't forget to protect poly roofs, if you have bee-eating peckers locally.

Just this year we have had some bluetits pecking at the aluminim foil... possibly because milk bottles have been phased out