# Bees and Styrofoam



## brushmouth (Jan 17, 2010)

Make sure you get the HIGH DENSITY pink stuff.
Note that all pink styrofoam is NOT high density, and the yellow stuff is worse. 
(do your own research, correct foam has a higher R value per inch than its pink cousin)

Then I spray a couple of coats of satin exterior latex inside and out.
Leave it open to out-gas fumes several days in the direct sunlight.

Have had no problems since using this method. 
I have used regular density and they chewed it up paint and all. 

Inside ends of nuc are 3/8 plywood glued in forming the frame rest and 
something for the bolt to go thru for the round plastic disc entry.

Regular hot glue on low setting works very well, that's all I used on my nucs.
There are nuc plans somewhere on this site, just use the search to find.
You can modify to suit your needs, very economical.

BM


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

They will chew through this stuff, I know.

http://building.dow.com/na/en/products/insulation/rigidfoam.htm


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

They will chew through Styrofoam fish shipping boxes.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The stuff they use for the styrofoam hives is a very high density that resembles balsa wood for density. Anything less might get chewed. The high density (pink or blue) seems to last better. The white low density they chew up in now time. Maybe some mylar would stop them...


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## Cedar Hill (Jan 27, 2009)

The reason they chew styrofoam is because it is inside their hive. If a 2" + thick (pink) piece of styrofoam is placed on *top* of your hive cover you will be accomplishing the same as if it were inside the hive. The vapor must exhaust from the hive so you must have some exhaust area in front of the hive (during the winter ). I leave mine on during the summer as well because it helps to cool the hive. OMTCW


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

Last year, I went the extra step and covered my regular white styrofoam in aluminum foil before placing them inside the hive. They chewed through THAT!

This year, for my experiment, I'm going to try using contact paper (shelf liner) to cover my styrofoam and see if they'll eat through that.


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