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More advanced beekeeping discussion forum.
 #1415  by AdamD
 24 Nov 2018, 10:34
tidymeup wrote:
22 Nov 2018, 00:28
AdamD wrote:
29 Sep 2018, 08:41

I also bought a MB Poly (Paradise hive) and a Paynes poly National too.

The MB design looked promising however errors in the bee space and lack of compatibility with Nationals meant that I bought no more.
Please could you explain the errors in the bee space? We have a good few of these in use at the moment.
There are few errors in the Paradise National (and from early models which might have changed).

1) A standard excluder does not fit as the Paradise box has curved corners and is a little smaller.
2) The space for a top bar should be just over 17 inches so the top bars can slide. The Paradise space is exactly 17 inches so you can turn a box upside down and empty frames will stay there - in use, sliding the frames is a pig.
3) If you use two brood boxes, there is not a bee space between the bottom of the top frames and the top bars of the frames in the lower box. It's only 3 mm, so bees will be crushed and comb will be built there.
4)The frame runner design is rubbish - bees will always get crushed under them as there is no refuge - you would usually expect to see a thin contact strip as a frame runner.
5) The mesh floor will allow for ventillation OK however there is as much plastic as there is gaps - I suspect that many of the varroa that we would hope to fall through would stay and be able to return to the nest.

As mentioned - some of the points raised may have changed since the early ones were supplied. Apart from that, bees do well in them!
 #1417  by tidymeup
 24 Nov 2018, 12:55
Many of the points mentioned certainly have changed, the frames for the boxes as they should and their is plenty of space when used as a double brood.

Mesh floors are certainly for ventilation but research has shown they have little to no impact on varroa at all. All hives are currently supplied with aluminium mesh.
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 #1422  by AdamD
 25 Nov 2018, 19:50
It looks like there have been some improvements from the original, which is good to know.