I like poly hives as they are hard wearing, warm in winter cool in summer and very productive as the bees spend less energy controlling the temperature which could result in a better harvest. I tend to get better through winter results using these hives than I do from the wooden ones and the bees seem very happy in them.
Paradise Honey do a really nice set of hives from a number of dealers in the UK (I use Modern Beekeeping Now taken over by Simon the Beekeeper ). Of primary interest here was the choice of complete hive set-ups as deals. The “Normal” set-up for bee hives tends to be a Brood-and 2 supers with a top and bottom. This however, if you are using the flow system is not a great use of boxes and therefore a very expensive way to go. I could however buy a set-up with three brood boxes. This is perfect for the Flow system that can be fitted into a brood box by removing a 1 cm wedge from one of the top rails of the brood box and lowering the hard plastic support. (I’ll try and write a post on this and link it here). Buying one hive with a stack of three deep boxes and one with a single brood hive allows for 2 hives each with 2 deep boxes and is perfect to make 2 hives for the flow system.
The entrance reducer is also really neat on these hives as it allows the hive to be closed, opened or left so that no queens and drones can enter or leave.
Queen Excluders
Paradise Honey do an integrated queen excluder with top entrance. The idea here is that you can close down the entrance below the queen excluder to reduce the desire to swarm as the majority of flying bees stay above the QE and in the honey super rather than down in the brood box. There is a process of swarm control where you can close the bottom entirely for short periods when the bees are thinking of swarming, thus preventing the queen from leaving. This method does however also trap the drones. I now set the sliders on the top entrance to keep the drones out. You’ll note in the pictures above that the entrance reducer is not in place. There is also space for a custom built bee escape to fit into the space above the QE but below the honey.
Hives do need a good lick of paint as the polystyrene is not UV resistant. I use an acrylic masonry paint from B&Q. I have a tub of red, blue and green that all match in shade as you can see. Initially I started with one to try it out and then added the next 2. Finally i added the red and white. In hind site i would have been better off with just colour coding the bottom brood boxes and leaving all the supers the same coulor as they can then be easily interchanged. you will see from many of my photos that the top boxes are sometimes muddled. If a hive needs a super and one is available it is a lot of effort to make the box colours match.