# polystyrene bee boxes



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I haven't used them a lot, but I bought several of the medium boxes and styrofoam lids. I was trying to overwinter a ten frame medium nuc in them. The nucs didn't do well, but then they didn't do well in the eight frame wood hives either. The condensation was pretty bad. I haven't tried to overwinter a strong hive in them. I meant to try it on a three box hive, this year, but I didn't get around to it.

Bjerm seems to like them as does a Finnish beekeeper I know of. They say they get an extra brood cycle in the spring. But the downside of that is an extra Varroa crop.


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## cdraves (Nov 25, 2003)

re the beemax hive bodies, does anyone know if there is any problems with drilling a 1/2" hole near the top of the box ( a top entrance)


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I drilled about a 3/4" hole in mine.


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## Ben Brewcat (Oct 27, 2004)

_Vis-a-vis_ ventilation, I was interested to see in those beekeeping videos (posted alsewhere) that not only were they using the polystyrene hives, but they had a sheet of plastic for inner covers! I wondered how the bees ventilated.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

In your climate, ventilation, in the winter anyway, isn't as big a problem as here. Maybe some of the success or failure has to do with climate. I never had condensation problems in Western Nebraska, Eastern Wyoming or the Front Range of Colorado.


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## chemistbert (Mar 4, 2004)

I love my styrofoam hive. It's light when empty and very rigid. Not as rugged as wood but should last a long time without much care.

What I like even more is the styrofoam telescoping covers for my wood equipment. Those things rock. No more heavy wooden tops that warp. I can even run without an inner cover. I highly recommend them.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

What happens when you have to pry a lid off or boxes apart?


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## chemistbert (Mar 4, 2004)

The lid is no biggie. In the summer you apply upward pressure and wait. The propolis slowly loses it's grip and the lid comes off. In the winter I gently pop the lid and the propolis cracks free. It sounds creepy but it does no harm to the lid. Boxes are the same as wood. Just insert your hive knife and gently pry them apart. The foam takes a little more care to avoid damage but I'm seldom in a hurry so it works great for me.


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

I have to echo Chem Bert. I too love my styrofoam telescoping covers. They are so light and have weathered great, for me. With the wooden ones, I have a bad habit of only painting the top as I don't have a metal break. I try to be more alert when staking things on top of the styrofoam ones when I checking the hive. After checking the hive with the heaviest cover (came with the hive), I DO Enjoy lifting off that styrofoam one. When it is a little stuck, I just give it a slight upward rap with something flat so as not to damage the foam.

I'll add, I painted one, and the paint peeled. When I painted the second one, on a later date, and repainted the first, the paint's been fine. Perhaps I forgot the primer on the one. 

Waya


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## Mabe (Mar 22, 2005)

All of my woodenware is stacked in the barn and all of the polystyrene is in the beeyard. We've been through a hot summer and a very cold windy winter so far and the poly hives were much stronger and built up faster, so I'm now switched completely. The temps don't fluctuate as quickly in the styro, the SBB's sold with them are great with a tray hole sawed in the back (save the piece you remove for winter). Drilled 3/4" holes in fronts. By the way...they are incredibly easy to assemble and I do use the polyurethane glue. If I ever get a round tuit I will glue plastic drywall bead to the outside corners because I weedwacked some dents in them this year.


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## Jim Fischer (Jan 5, 2001)

Whenever I drop by the Lynchburg VA Dadant
warehouse, I can see a stack of damaged
polystyrene hive components. Some of these
are damaged in shipping/handling to the
warehouse, some are customer returns, I
suspect damaged during attempts at assembly.

I'd love to abandon wood, but we are pretty
rough on our woodenware, as anyone who tries
to get the jobs done at more than a leisurely
pace would be.

Is anyone using styro hives on a wide scale,
say 100+ hives that both pollinate and make
honey crops, and are thus moved around and
banged around? I'd sure like to hear how
their equipment stood up to the beating.

We make our own supers and bottom boards in
house, and this winter we will start converting
to the "vented" migratory outer covers as
implemented by Joe Tarwater of TN. The price
of wood has to go way up before the styro stuff
becomes a viable alternative for us.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

I did see a foam nuc box last year. It was neat. I was surprised by the density of the material and quality. It had a built in feeder, rotating disk for the entrance, and an upward entrance for rain deflection. I would not pay for many of them as they are expensive compared to wood, but I may buy one to just have. Not sure who carries them. 

As for the foam hives, I think they will pass as the plastic hives did. I also throw my boxes around and the foam will break and get damaged if your moving hives. I think if you will never move your hive it may be worth considering. But it seems over the years a number of different hives have come and gone, and wood remains the true standard. I know wood properly cared for will last 30 or more years. Will the foam?


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

In a recent conversation with Ray Oliverz (9,000 hive operation in CA) he indicated he has switched to all Styrofoam nucs after trying them. The company had to gear up to produce them as he bought several thousand at once. Although nucs don't get the wear and tear hives do he indicates he is happy with virtually every aspect and prefers them over wooden nucs. I could not, after installing a nuc in one (hive) this spring, imagine they would survive in our operation. I hear folks say the hives are strong enough but the 1st. time they got cinched on the trailer for moving I'm betting there'd be trouble. Maybe if in a small operation which was static there would be advantages such as insulatiion (from both cold and heat)as well as being extremly light. I remember years ago some molded plastic hives and composite bottom boards came out. I still have in the equipment yard but that sure was failure (for us). Between warping, being unable to staple lids and bottom boards and nailed ends (yes they were nailed) giving out it was a huge hassle. I don't see any wide term replacement for wood in the near future.

[ December 11, 2005, 12:20 PM: Message edited by: Joel ]


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Not sure who carries them. 

betterbee


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## Randy Bagrowski (Jan 29, 2002)

I've had 3 colonies in medium boxes for about 5 years now.

Pros: They definately build up brood quicker in the spring, but come summer time they are not much different from wood boxes. They are lighter (the boxes) and the frames don't get glued down to the box, they rest on plastic rails.

Cons: They are not a standard size. If you have robbing going on, you can't just run down to your hive and put on a robber screen, its too small!.Even if you make your own robber screen, there's no good way to attach it, screws just don't hold in the styrofoam. The boxes are not durable but they do bang back together easy! You CANNOT use Oxalic acid via an electric vaporizer! The hive opening is too small, and even of you could force an electric OA vaproizer in, it would melt the floor. The styrofoam bottom boards have only a small 6 x 6 opening in the bottom, when doing mite counts you don't get an accurate count because mites typically are all over the inside, not just in the center 6 x 6 area!


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## SGebauer (Nov 11, 2004)

Hi Jim,

We have about 200 in the poly. We do have one orchard that picks up hives and has to handle them by hand so we use poly for them. All the supers do tend to be wood just because we are a bit rough with them during harvest time. 

As for the poly nuc box, the price is that much different than the assembled wooden nucs. 

Cheers,
Shane


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## [email protected] (Aug 1, 2004)

Well, I think the styro boxes are great, for all the reasons given here. There is no question they have to be handled differently, but that is no big deal...just 'different'.

However, other than the nine I trialed, I will not add more. As Jim Fischer pointed out, they are just far too expensive. When asked, I tell hobbyists they work great, but are not worth the money premium compared to wood.


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## Kishwaukee Goldminer (Dec 6, 2005)

I have 6 styrofoam deep bodies from Dadant (which still sells them). They're okay, but the thick walls require care when one also uses wood. 

I dropped one styrofoam body once, and several of the dovetails broke off. I wound up gluing it back together with Liquid Nails plus deck screws to hold it while the glue set. That body survived and I'm a LOT more careful with foam supers now. 

Obviously, you can't pry on foam supers with a hive tool; any hard implement will gouge the foam. I also noticed something had gnawed on the corner of one foam body, and obviously the 'gnawer' would've gone through if it hadn't changed its mind. The great liability to damage from my hive tool, etc., appears to be a big disadvantage, so I've decided to stay with wood from now on. But more skillful beekeepers may find that they work well.


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## Bill Ruble (Jan 2, 2006)

Do the styrofoam tops fit well on the wood boddies? I ask because what I read said they were made specially for the styrofoam boxes but did not say anything about fitting wood boxes. I assume they are the same size is that true.
bill


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I should try it. I have three of them out in the yard right now. My guess is they probably will since the styrofoam is larger (outside) than the wood.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

The boxes are the same size inside of course. The styro tops will fit the wood hives, but standard wood tops won't fit down over the styro hives. Wood and styro boxes can be stacked together if you don't mind the outside of the styro hive extending out an inch or so all around.


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## SGebauer (Nov 11, 2004)

Bill,

The poly cover for the poly hive will fit over a wooden hive body, but it will be big given the larger outside dimension of poly hives. We do make poly covers which are designed specifically for the wooden hives. 

Cheers,
Shane


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

Does one use a traditional hive tool to pry the boxes apart? 

Mike


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## brent.roberts (Dec 31, 2005)

I just got some BeeMax styro kits from Betterbee and the bases now have screened opennings 10" x 11" so the varroa drop will be better. The ones I got have a slider for a catch tray built in. The tray will serve to limit drafts in the winter.

The screen is wire (hardware cloth) that is fixed in position with hot melt glue.

[ January 10, 2006, 10:25 PM: Message edited by: brent.roberts ]


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

Any problem putting a wooden super on top of a poly hive?

Doing a little pricing I don't see that much of a difference between a medium in wood or poly. About $2 if you don't order either in quantity. Unless you're a major operator the price difference isn't too bad. It's the durability consideration that puts people off about poly hives.

Mike


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## SGebauer (Nov 11, 2004)

Hi Mike,

There is no problem stacking wooden supers on the poly. Most of our supers are wood which we stack on the poly. 

Cheers,
Shane


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