Which way to go regarding poly

[Poly Hive]

Not to mention.... the front of the BB which makes pinning a cheap mouse guard impossible.

The entrance which is nice and big to invite mice in instead of the 8mm others have to keep them out....

Oh and the bloody hopeless roof.

As for the alighting board... for goodness sake. The bees certainly don't need it.

PH

 

[pargyle]

Not to mention.... the front of the BB which makes pinning a cheap mouse guard impossible.

The entrance which is nice and big to invite mice in instead of the 8mm others have to keep them out....

Oh and the bloody hopeless roof.

As for the alighting board... for goodness sake. The bees certainly don't need it.

PH

The roofs for the last few years have been modified and are very good .. never had one blow off .. even in the gale we had down here last night .. and my hives are not strapped down.

The entrance block has three bee sized holes for winter .. there isn't a mouse alive that would get through those .. I've never needed a mouse guard with this design feature.

It is a large landing board but ..it's not a problem.

One man's meat is another man's poison I suppose. I like the Paynes polys but like anything in beekeeping - just down to personal preference. I've worked with most of the common hive flavours and I still come back to my apiary and think I prefer my Paynes.

 

[SDM]

Must be ten years since they changed the roof.
Really the only issue I find is that I cant put a pollen trap on them( not that I've ever put one on any of the hives that I can). As for the footprint, I can get 16 paynes hives or 16 wooden ones on my trailer, so its never made a damn bit of difference to me.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

i have mostly cedar nationals but i do have two maisies poly hives and theyre fine.....

as i need to buy 5 more, i am torn between sticking with maisies or switching to ableo....attracted by abelo because of the compatibility with my 10 wooden hives

i'd previously gone for maisies on cost grounds and bought a hive with two supers for £80 last season, as these are now around £110 the abelo at £145 looks a better switch

waiting to see if maisies drop in sale to similar price as last year

 

[Angry_Mob]

£125 if your comparing unpainted vs unpainted.

 

[Repwoc]

waiting to see if maisies drop in sale to similar price as last year

The Maise's sale prices are here: https://bees-online.co.uk/polysale.jpg

 

[Cuckmere couple]

thats helpful folk, thanks

 

[SDM]

thats helpful folk, thanks

At £60 cheaper I'm guessing maismore wins, the only compatibility issue with wood is that you cant put a wooden roof on a maismore poly box. Any other combination can be done.

 

[user 6228]

At £60 cheaper I'm guessing maismore wins, the only compatibility issue with wood is that you cant put a wooden roof on a maismore poly box. Any other combination can be done.

A wooden roof on a poly body ... is not sensible to put it politely perhaps a thing to done only under extremes of kit shortage or with a thick slab of PIR inside it... Although I have seen this done to a much larger extreme of uninsulated 13mm pine roofs on dozens of PIR(kingspan) nuc bodies. The roofs were the owners idea of a match to to the bodies. I was then asked my opinion about the heat retention, Politeness failed then I'm afraid.

 

[Cuckmere couple]

i'm very content with my maises hives to be honest so, probably yes.....there is a slight overlap issue for example using a wooden clearer board left a lip which i just had to ensure was closed all the way around

i also need some more crown boards and was wondeirng if i need to make some wooden ones specifically for the poly hive....the clear crown board is fine but when it comes to feeding fondant etc i ended up buying a couple of miller feeders to fit and use for fondant too

so, there are some issues which i think switching to abelo may tidy up, but, at £60 more....thats the calculation

i guess i have 10ish wooden double bb hives (20 brood boxes) with about 40 supers....and now 2 double bb maisies....so now is the time to make the decision

got another week or two to ponder

 

[local_beekeeper]

i'm very content with my maises hives to be honest so, probably yes.....there is a slight overlap issue for example using a wooden clearer board left a lip which i just had to ensure was closed all the way around

i also need some more crown boards and was wondeirng if i need to make some wooden ones specifically for the poly hive....the clear crown board is fine but when it comes to feeding fondant etc i ended up buying a couple of miller feeders to fit and use for fondant too

so, there are some issues which i think switching to abelo may tidy up, but, at £60 more....thats the calculation

i guess i have 10ish wooden double bb hives (20 brood boxes) with about 40 supers....and now 2 double bb maisies....so now is the time to make the decision

got another week or two to ponder

Abelo hives with discount comes to £112.50 and maises to £87.50, the diffrence is £25.... but with maises you don't have crown board and is flat pack....

 

[Cuckmere couple]

where do you get abelo with discount?

 

[Beefriendly]

15% discount in sales? Beg?
I'm always intrigued by how and why beekeepers will go for the cheapest options, often ending buying an inferior product and saving only a few quid and then having to re-buy the same again in a few years time.
Yet they sell lots of an extremely valuable crop. What do they do with their honey money???
Mine gets spend on the best possible gear. And ready painted poly hives come well up on my list of desirable's.

 

[Beefriendly]

Abelo hives with discount comes to £112.50 and maises to £87.50, the diffrence is £25.... but with maises you don't have crown board and is flat pack....

Yup and you also need to factor in the time to assemble them, the cost of paint and the time it takes you paint them. I hate painting.

 

[SDM]

Yup and you also need to factor in the time to assemble them, the cost of paint and the time it takes you paint them. I hate painting.

Cost of paint ? 60 supers 18 broods half a dozen roofs and floors , 2 coats of sandtex rolled and I can probably do half that again with what's left of the can.
I'd say about 50p per hive.

 

[local_beekeeper]

where do you get abelo with discount?

https://www.abelo.co.uk/events/

 

[Beefriendly]

Cost of paint ? 60 supers 18 broods half a dozen roofs and floors , 2 coats of sandtex rolled and I can probably do half that again with what's left of the can.
I'd say about 50p per hive.

Add in your time at £8.21 per hour.....minimum.
I have better things to do with my life than spend a day or so painting a load of new hives.
It's why I like the off the shelf and ready to go, ready painted variety.

 

[Murox]

Add in your time at £8.21 per hour.....minimum.
I have better things to do with my life than spend a day or so painting a load of new hives.
It's why I like the off the shelf and ready to go, ready painted variety.

I agree, but £10 per hour is nearer the living wage.

 

[Poly Hive]

Honey money.......

Trend T10 router, Trend router table, Charnwood table saw. Dust extractor.

If only the garage was warmer...

PH

 

[Millet]

Abelo all the way for me..the roofs are to die for and the brood and super boxes are the same...i make my own floors with a good landing board so the bees do not undershoot the entrance and die on the earth below the hive on these cold days when doing toilet duties..