# apimaye beehive



## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

Has anyone tried these beehives? Tell me about your experience. Does their feeder work alright? They seem expensive but may last longer than wood.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I had no idea what they were until I Googled.

Having read the descriptions, a couple of things caught my eye: a claim that a screen bottom board (with what is presumably a capture tray underneath) would somehow reduce varroa problems. As someone who has sticky boarded some hives every day for a year I don't believe there is enough natural fall out of the hive to make any difference in varroa populations upstairs. That's wishful thinking.

My hives are heavily insulated, too. I am aim for R-15 (I am in a cold climate). But contrary to the Apimaye hive's claim I think this keeps the bees more active and may result in the need for more winter food, not less. At the same time of course, there is the reduced energy cost for maintaining the minimum life-sustaining core temps in the cluster. I have seen no work that sorts this issue out definitively (as opposed to intuitively which is where their claim is coming from.) I'm not against insulating boxes - I can't figure out why everybody doesn't do it - but I am not sure you can make a claim about winter food consumption, either way.

'The one really appealing thing for me would be the ease of sanitizing the boxes after a disease outbreak. (And Lord knows, you wouldn't want to burn all that plastic material.)

My chief complaint is how gawky they look, though I'm sure the bees wouldn't care. 

If this might be your first hive, however, I'll pass on the best advice I got in my first year: start with plain Jane, ordinary wood boxes of whatever size and configuration is considered most common in your area. That way when you are trying to figure out what's going on with your bees, you can discount any factor that might be originating in some kind of novel environment. 

You know that old saw about building a better mousetrap? That's an outdated analogy, it's building a better beehive that's the cool thing these days.

Nancy


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## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

I am not concerned about the sales hype. Funny you insulate and then criticize this hive. What I think is the main benefit is the hive should last a very long time. And as you stated cleanup and reusing should be a snap. No wax moths building in the wood etc.


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## aran (May 20, 2015)

I agree if you look beyond the sales hype it seems a reasonable product. Only downside i really see is the price.
That and i like to monkey around with my tools making bee boxes/etc even though im close to the worlds worst carpenter.

If they were cheaper id give em a go. Beekeeping is a little like golf to me in that there are a ton of different toys to try.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

I insulate because it's better for bees (though I would consider R-6 too skimpy in my climate.) But I am criticizing their claim that it reduces food demands.

My bees rarely go into cluster in my cozy hives, at least not the tight ball-like cluster that bees in wood hives do. Even though I am z4b/5a and temps go down to well below zero. Even a 5-10 F outside air temps, I can peek in my hives and see bees milling happily around, not in a cluster.

Although bees famously "don't heat the hive", they are not immune to the laws of thermodynamics and if the heat the cluster gives off is retained within the insulated hive-space, then the air (and the walls and frames and bees) will be warmer than in an uninsulated stack. Warm(er) bees likely eat more. Certainly my big hives can go through 90-100 pounds of honey in a long NY winter. Yet, nearby beekeepers with uninsulated boxes, where the bees are almost certainly tightly clustered most of the time, survive (most of the time) in smaller stacks with less honey stores. But I have far higher-than-average winter survival rates than they do - usually no losses at all. Is it warmer stacks, more chow, or something else. I don't know.

I take the insulation off after it warms up around Memorial Day, except for 2" (R-10) of top insulation which stays on permanently.

Nancy


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

> Apimaye Thermo Hives prevent thousands of trees in our forests from being cut down for the purpose of making bee hives every year, and helps conserving the nature.


Heard this before. Blah, blah..

One word - plastic.
It is like we need more of it.
Especially after China finally decided to say - enough, keep your own plastic at home and deal with it (justly so).

Wood now days is more responsible material in many ways - talking of soft, local woods (not imported, poached rain forest products).

It is renewable resource, and is grown and harvested in sustainable ways (pretty much have to).
There is tons of wood to be recycled for just about free.
Wood rots - a good thing.
Easy to fix/replace.
Bees are dong just fine in wood.
Many advantages.


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## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

Greg you make some good points about wood. I don't know what China has to do with it. This product is made in Turkey. Some people say the forest is shrinking. What I do know is if my 150 dollar hive rots I have to spend another 150 dollars to replace it. My biggest concern is how the bees adjust to a plastic environment. I hope someone here has some experience with this product.


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## pahammer (Oct 8, 2012)

DoverBob said:


> Has anyone tried these beehives? Tell me about your experience. Does their feeder work alright? They seem expensive but may last longer than wood.


the feeders work great...search youtube for Apimaye feeder


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

DoverBob said:


> Greg you make some good points about wood. I don't know what China has to do with it. This product is made in Turkey. Some people say the forest is shrinking. What I do know is if my 150 dollar hive rots I have to spend another 150 dollars to replace it. My biggest concern is how the bees adjust to a plastic environment. I hope someone here has some experience with this product.


China absolutely has everything to do with it - until now where do you think all that "recycled" plastic was dumped to? 
Well, to China.
Read the news.
So, yes, it was easy to be "green" and think you are "recycling" your junk - as long as China was willing to take that junk and the pollution it creates along with it.

In my town, for example, they no longer take bulk plastic items.
They ALL go into landfill now.
Part of the problem was that the plastic items people would dump was terribly polluted or not even plastic.
They would toss wood, dirt and even dead cats in to plastic bin and have no second thoughts.
Why would anyone want to take that mess and clean/sort it?
I would not do it either.

Eventually, this well used and impossible to clean piece of plastic (your shiny, expensive, plastic hive) will end up in landfill - practically forever.
I don't know what they promise regarding easy cleaning, but anything well propolised is hardly possible to clean without a flame.
Pretty much,beekeeping equipment should be cleanable by flame - honest and it works darn well and kills germs too.Well, try flame cleaning on that plastic toy; donno about that one.. 
That is one point (no one will recycle this dirty piece of plastic; well, if this hive is any good - bees absolutely should rub it with propolise inside out and make it dirty as hell; IF they don't, the hive is no good either).

That non-sense about "saving forests" by plastic junk makers is getting old.
Meanwhile, cheap pine planks are grown by US farmers on renewable/sustainable plantations.
So, support US forest growers, for a change.
Forget Turkey or where-ever they keep generating more plastic junk.


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## snapper1d (Apr 8, 2011)

Greg you have a very god argument for wood!!!


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## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

Greg does have good argument for wood. Did not want to start a political/green conversation just wanted to know if anyone has experience with this hive. Not really about plastic in the world. Cannot imagine no plastic in my home.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

I mean I use plastic all the time.
Hitting at a plastic keyboard right now.

In fact, I use lots of plastic frames because I took them away from people who wanted to toss them.
They work great for foundation-lees keeping (when gutted).
So I still end up using other people's plastic junk, as much as I hate it.

Anyway, wanted to added another prospective.
It is your money to spend, regardless.


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## pahammer (Oct 8, 2012)

DoverBob said:


> Has anyone tried these beehives? Tell me about your experience. Does their feeder work alright? They seem expensive but may last longer than wood.


I have two (white) 10 frame hives and two 7 frame nucs. I have no complaints and plan to purchase more. I purchased them directly from apimaye-usa. free shipping within the US


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## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

How long have you had the hives? Do you like the feeder, bottom board? How does the bees do during the heat of summer. Condensation?


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## Edgewater (Mar 22, 2018)

First year beek, so lots to learn. I decided after some research to standardize on Apimaye 7 frame deep hives. So far am really liking them. I started with one package and one nuc. Love the feeder after seeing all the makeshift stuff others use. I only have 2 hives, but both are doing great so far. I decided to try diatomaceous earth (DE) on the bottom board, and am really liking that as well. The bottom board is well designed to allow ventilation, but the bees can't get into the DE, and it's well protected from rain so the DE is holding up well. Am hopeful that other beeks using these hives will chip in to compare notes.


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## DoverBob (Mar 31, 2015)

Thanks for your input. Hope your hives continue to go well. Keep us updated.


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## TRose (Jan 29, 2018)

I have 5 currently and I love them. Bees are warmer in the cold weather and cooler in the hot weather.The top feeder is worth it’s weight in gold, superior to any other feeder in my opinion. Bottom board slides in and out for easy inspection and cleaning. Uses all standard frames and you can even swap out and use wood brood boxes and supers if you felt the need. A little more money up front, but in the long run I won’t have wooden boxes getting mildew, rot or have to paint anything.


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## Ambassador (Mar 30, 2012)

I've been kicking around buying these as well. Even if you disagree with the need for insulation or wrapping a hive, the functionality is hard to argue with. I keep my hives off site from my home every summer and then move them back home every winter. It never fails that I don't close up one of the hives well enough or a heavy hive body shifts despite my efforts to strap them down and I end up with a cloud of bees following the trailer down the road. The fact that the Apimaye latch together and have permanent closures for transport is very appealing to me. I haven't taken the plunge yet but I'm tempted. I'd be curious if anybody has done some side by side comparisons between traditional hive and an Apimaye hive with colonies of the same health/size etc.


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## cfalls (Nov 26, 2017)

I have three Apimaye hives. I am a fan will continue to purchase their equipment.

The top feeder and bottom board are great. The boxes feel sturdy. I like the doo-dads, for example the easily opened or closed entrances on each box, and the ability to easily adjust the size of the main entrance with those slider thingies. Also note that if you need to transport the hives or stop robbing they can be closed completely in about 10 seconds.

One disadvantage is that the bottom brood box is affixed to the bottom board, so you can't swap your upper and lower brood boxes as a swarm prevention method. It also means that you can't just tip over your bottom brood box to check for swarm cells on the bottom of the frames -- you have to take the frames out to see the bottom of them.

I have found that Apimaye equipment interoperates with standard Langstroth equipment just fine -- not only frames, but I've also stacked two four-frame wooden boxes on top of a 10-frame Apimaye box with the included divider inserted to make a "resource hive" or "Palmer double nuc" of sorts. Standard 10-frame Langstroth boxes stack on top just fine too.

I can't say whether they're worth the price or whether the insulation and ventilation is good or bad for the bees. On those issues anyone's guess is as good as mine.


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## Muddy creek (Jun 25, 2019)

cfalls said:


> I have three Apimaye hives. I am a fan will continue to purchase their equipment.
> 
> The top feeder and bottom board are great. The boxes feel sturdy. I like the doo-dads, for example the easily opened or closed entrances on each box, and the ability to easily adjust the size of the main entrance with those slider thingies. Also note that if you need to transport the hives or stop robbing they can be closed completely in about 10 seconds.
> 
> ...


Still liking the apimaye hives


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## edzkoda (Aug 9, 2014)

Kaymon Reynolds has been using some and setting some up in his expermential apiary. He is as honest as they come (IMO). If your interested in the good and bad check out his youtubes on them


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## rdimanin (Jan 17, 2020)

DoverBob said:


> Has anyone tried these beehives? Tell me about your experience. Does their feeder work alright? They seem expensive but may last longer than wood.


I have been using Apimaye hives for 3 years & love them. I especially like how easy it is to transport them & the bees love them. I have also used Technosetbee insulated hives & currently have 4 of them. Although I still have & use woodenware, the Apimaye & Technosetbee hives contain my largest colonies & the bees do very well in both hives. Regarding the cost, shipping is included with Apimaye purchases & their support is great as well. Altogether, I have 15 Apimaye hives & will buy more in the future.


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## Huckleberry (Jul 8, 2021)

Love my Apimaye Hives - I have seven and all are rocking. My hives came thru a hard winter and all very strong. So many awesome features and amazing top feeders and no maintenance like painting or any wood rotting whatsoever. I've spoken with Alaskan Apimaye beekeepers and they love them as well. Def more pricey than wood and if you build your own hives depends how you value your build time. They will stand the test of time and harsh winters and summers.


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## TelmahQ (Jun 3, 2021)

I like my Apimaye hives, especially the feeder and bottom board. (Wish it had a hole for OAV.)

I tried to scrape some propolis off one however and got shavings of plastic coming up with it. I feel even worse about micro plastics getting out in the environment than I do about landfill plastic. So, they really shouldn’t be scraped with a hive tool (IMO). 

Between that and the cost of an Apimaye super, I’ve switched to wood for my expansions this year. But, I would definitely consider the top/bottom kit they have for wood boxes- best of both worlds (but then you still need to insulate the box if that is your thing).


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## Tumbleweed (Mar 17, 2021)

I would likely never own any plastic hive, I like wood, like working it, finishing it, burning it. If you get American foulbrrod, burning would be an issue, no?

…but I also reserve the right to change my mind😁


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