National Hives
National Hives NEW PRODUCT This Section contains complete hives, less frames. High density polystyrene hives dominate sales in other northern European countries but the UK has lagged behind for far too long. The hive is designed for a working life of at least 30 years and will take a lot of hard use, such as migratory beekeeping. Designed and supplied by Paradise Honey Ltd of Finland the hive represents the culmination of years of experience and research into the development of the perfect bee hive. Our new National hive is constructed to have the same external dimensions as a normal wooden National which because of the thicker walls means it has room inside for 10 Hoffman frames and a dummy board if desired. We do not see this as a limitation because in poly hives the queen will frequently use all ten frames for brood rearing. In wooden hives, where the outer frames are rarely used for brood rearing because of excessive temperature fluctuations the outer frames are rarely used for brood rearing. The Super will take 10 Hoffman or 9 Manley frames. Our hives are top bee space whereas the standard for a BS National is bottom bee space. This means it is physically possible to mix wooden hive bodies and floors etc., but the bee space at the junctions between the two materials needs to be taken into account. A simple solution would be to turn a wood framed queen excluder upside down if fitting our supers onto an existing wooden brood box. This would also allow supers to be fitted on a Commercial brood box although the queen excluder would probably require a little wood shaved off the edges.
Before being taken into use it is essential the hive components are painted. This prevents the growth of algae on the outside of the hive, deterioration by UV and in the case of the feeder is required for sealing and ease of cleaning. We recommend the floor and roof are fully painted on all surfaces but the brood chamber and supers need only be painted on the outside. Ideally two coats of paint should be applied, though one will suffice. The feeder requires additional painting on the inside, where the syrup sits. At least 3 coats are required otherwise the syrup will soak into the feeder and mould etc., will continue to grow even after you have washed it out. The interior "walk-way" the bees climb up through does not need painting but the surface the bees walk down to reach the syrup benefits from a light roughening with fine sandpaper to help the bees grip. If you have strong fingers the hard plastic edges can be slid off prior to painting for a neater finish. Water based exterior smooth masonry paint is recommend for all surfaces other than the inside of the feeder. This is quick drying and easily applied with a 4" wide fleece roller and a ½" brush for the fiddly bits. We have found Dulux Weathershield Smooth Masonry paint is an excellent choice. This paint contains an acrylic resin and gives excellent coverage and wear characteristics. Woodland Pearl No 1 in the Tailor Made range of this paint is an excellent matt green that suits the hives well. We used to recommend Cuprinol Garden Shades but it is not very hard wearing and we feel the extra durability and better coverage of the Dulux paint is worth the extra cost. One litre will be sufficient for two hives with supers although you will find you probably have to buy 2.5 litres. There is a school of thought that supports painting the hive components different colours so the bees can recognize their own hive better, but unless you have a large number of hives in the apiary this would not be economic. For the interior of the feeder we recommend four coats of interior gloss white paint. Roughen the surface down which the bees climb to reach the syrup with fine sanding paper after the last coat. Alternatively, apply an extra coat to this surface only and sprinkle dry sand on it. You do not need to paint the interior surface the bees ascend - it would be pretty hard to reach in any case.
More information on hive care can be found here.
The body material in our BeeBox hive system is especially hardened EPS polystyrene (density over 100 Kg/ m3).
