# New Website for Bees Forever Plastics



## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

Check out these boxes
http://beesforeverplastics.weebly.com/


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Very cool boxes. I take it they are deep with standard Langstroth dimensions? Only problem I would have is that we have to mark our boxes clearly on the outside with beekeeper name/contact info so I would have to paint over your sticker inch:


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## Slow Modem (Oct 6, 2011)

It looks like it might be a better mouse trap (no pun intended!).

I didn't notice if it comes in different sizes - 10-frame/8-frame; or deep, medium, shallow?


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## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

They actually come without the stickers. You can put your own stickers on them or brand them like you would wood.
They only come in the full size, 10 frame style.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

Nice, I like them.


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## Stephen (Mar 2, 2011)

I wonder what the insulation value of these are compared to wood?


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

Forgive me if I act nieve, I don't have any experience working in plastics, but I would have assumed that you could make a plastic body for cheaper than you can a wood body . . . or are the materials totally different?


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## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

It seems that the materials that make it both food grade plastic as well as U/V resistant so it won't crack are fairly expensive.
I would have thought that they would be cheaper than wood too.
On the plus side though, they are almost indestructible.


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## peacekeeperapiaries (Jun 23, 2009)

I also wonder about the insulation properties of the plastic. Neat idea but the cost is certainly prohibitive compared to wood.


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## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

I have been looking to compare apples to apples on the boxes for price. What is the price for a painted, best quality and assembled box without frames? I swear all I can find is assembled and painted box as a full kit. I will find out about the r value compared to wood boxes, but yet again, what is the R value of a wood bee box? hard to find this info on the internet. Go figure.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Brushy mountain has assembled and painted deeps for $24.95 ea for 5 or more. Single boxes are $1.00 ea more. These are commercial grade. Mann lake and Dadant seem to be in this price range if you back out frames. It would be helpful to consider shipping for many of us as well.
I would guess the plastic ships for considerable less


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## Slow Modem (Oct 6, 2011)

Seven Hills said:


> I have been looking to compare apples to apples on the boxes for price. What is the price for a painted, best quality and assembled box without frames? I swear all I can find is assembled and painted box as a full kit.


$25.95 at brushy mountain


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## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

So even at $17.25 the plastic is cheaper and remember you will never have to paint them.


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## MT204 (May 12, 2011)

R value is 1.41 per inch for most softwoods and 0.71 for most hardwoods. That figures out to about an R 1.05 for 3/4" softwood or R .53 for hard wood boards. Can't imagine the plastic has much of an R value if any at all.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Seven Hills said:


> So even at $17.25 the plastic is cheaper and remember you will never have to paint them.


But I can buy 12" industrial grade pine at $.30/ft. Figuring 6' per box, that comes to $1.80 per hive body. 

If I build 50 hive bodies, I can save enough over the cost of the plastic ones to buy a nice table saw.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

I have a few plastic boxes in our outfit and they are a joke (granted different manufacturer). They warp badly. Dont forget sunlight is an enemy of plastic.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

And then I know of plastics that do not warp at all and have been exposed to sunlight for many many years with no issue. It is all in what plastic is used and there are thousands of composites.
It is sort of like saying. "I had flowers and was not impressed" Well what flowers?


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## Specialkayme (Sep 4, 2005)

Michael Palmer said:


> But I can buy 12" industrial grade pine at $.30/ft.


I wish I could get lumber at those prices. The best I'm aware of is Home Depot. A 12', 12" board runs about $14 last time I bought it. $7 a hive body and $1.80 a hive body is a BIG difference.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

NC is a mountain state. There must be a saw mill there that makes kiln dried pine boards. Ask them what they have in industrial grade. Also, some mills have shorts or planer ends...short boards with some defect, cut off a longer board to improve the quality of the longer board.


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## THALL (Apr 6, 2010)

Gilkey Lumber in Rutherfordton NC, Mills and dries 4/4-8/4 white pine.


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## The Honey Girl's Boy (Jul 26, 2009)

I bought one of these plastic brood boxes and tried it. My experience is that it is like putting bees in a refrigerator in the winter and an oven in the summer. The material it is made from is pretty much indestructible but it isn’t a good material for making bee friendly hives.


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

I wonder what would happen if you drop a plastic super when it’s 20 degrees. Drop a wood box and just pick it back up and stake it. My guess is plastic would be in pieces. Insulation and cost eliminates the idea for me. As far as painting I can get a gallon of good exterior paint for around 20 bucks. And paint a lot of boxes. I get six deeps and three medium from a 4X8 sheet of exterior plywood for the price of one plastic box.


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## The Honey Girl's Boy (Jul 26, 2009)

I don’t think the hive would break in cold weather. The plastic material is pretty tough and probably good for many applications. My personal opinion is that a bee hive it isn’t one of them. It doesn’t have the insulation qualities that a standard bee hive has. Again that is a statement based on my observation and from my personal experience and not based on any scientific study I know of. One could make a car tire out of rebar enforced concrete and it would be one tough wheel, but not a good application for a tire.


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## Seven Hills (Apr 7, 2011)

Don't know if you own a bees forever box or the imitation snap together kind, but the insulation properties of the plastic over wood are almost the same and these boxes have been used for over 6 years and we do not freeze or bake the bees using this box. It will not break if you drop it. You can drive the bee truck on to the box and it won't break. You can probably break it if you used a sledge hammer on it. This box was invented by a commercial beekeeper so keeping the bees alive is the most important factor to him and the plastic used is food grade with uv inhibitors in it so it is very durable. One of the biggest expenses of any business is labor costs. You can buy a unassembled and unpainted box, a gallon of white paint and do alot of boxes but that is if your labor is free which it is not for businesses. Cliff invented this box because he was spending so much money on labor to maintain and assemble boxes that he was not as profitable as he needed to be. Plastic may not be for everyone but it works great for him and other commercial and hobby beekeepers that use the box. If you are not handy at assembly this is a way for you to be a beekeeper also. The price of the box comparison shows that the plastic is cheaper than the same thing in wood.


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