BBKA Forum

When polystyrene hives first came out I purchased a couple of Paynes 6 frame nucs which worked well apart from the feeder so I cut the feeders out without cutting myself and with the aid of some adhesive, made them into 8 frame boxes which I still have - see below.


I also bought a MB Poly (Paradise hive) and a Paynes poly National too.

The MB design looked promising however errors in the bee space and lack of compatibility with Nationals meant that I bought no more.

The Paynes design has all the right dimensions however I found that the supers were a pig to lift with poor hand-holds and the poly was too soft. The 'Captain' also thought the Paynes hive was ugly in the garden so it had to go!
Ever since I have remained using a selection of random-sized WBC's and Nationals.

What's the best poly National hive to use?

I've had two styles of poly , paynes (hive and nuc) and Lyson (from abelo) (national & langstroth)

I would not buy another paynes poly.

I will be buying more lyson.
The density is 160g/litre, so harder than any other poly on the market as far as I am aware avoiding any soft poly issues.

They have plastIc rims round top and bottom of boxes meaning it is far harder to dig into the poly with a hive tool.

They come pre painted

They have the same foot print as all my wooden nationals - 46 cm sq. Meaning all kit is inter changeable.

As it is the same foot print you get no annoying over hang when placing on wooden kit or sticking out bits when used under wood.

The paynes nucs are anything from 3 - 5 yrs old and are showing serious sign of wear. When I replace I will be replacing with bshoney nucs as they are the most dense poly nuc available at the mo with 120g/litre. They also have much thicker roofs than rivals from what I understand.

Chrisbarlow wrote: ↑

29 Sep 2018, 08:54

They come pre painted

They have the same foot print as all my wooden nationals - 46 cm sq. Meaning all kit is inter changeable.

As it is the same foot print you get no annoying over hang when placing on wooden kit or sticking out bits when used under wood.

Can I add that they come pre-built which is even better!
The interchangeability is probably key though! I don't want to get rid of my cedar kit.

the nationals are indeed pre built as you say Diane. Which is another perk

It is worth mention they poly langstroth new designs needs the brood boxes building up (it is 4 walls) and then needs painting as well. However the sell an alerternative model that is doesnt need building up and is painted as well but costs £26 more. Personal choice really.

We have hundreds of the Paynes poly nucs and they serve us well, for the most part durable although after a few years use some of the mesh floors give way and need to be replaced which is easily done and is cheap to do. The clear polycarbonate crown boards do become brittle after a few years too, especially if they come into contact with varroa treatments such as Maqs or Apilife Var.
We get the odd one where the feeder seems to be porous and can attract wasps, painting the inside of the feeder solves this issue. We only paint the roofs, no need to paint the rest of it.
As with any poly product if you get a heavy wax moth infestation and don't deal with it you are in trouble, wax moth can make a real mess.
Being a one piece unit, they are easy and safe to handle and transport. The insulation properties are perfectly adequate allowing the bees to do very well in them with few losses.
The redesign allowing the feeder to be removed is a bonus increasing capacity from 6 to eight frames.

Sounds like a great way to generate an awful lot of avoidable plastic pollution.

Nope, sorry....don't feel guilty in the slightest at using poly hives.
Bees (in my part of the world) thrive in them.

NigelP wrote: ↑

30 Sep 2018, 17:34

Nope, sorry....don't feel guilty in the slightest at using poly hives.
Bees (in my part of the world) thrive in them.

ditto Nigel. now that Ive started to using them, I will only get more. the bonus today is that there are some very durable and long lasting makes on the market. That I hope will last decades.

I assume that the Lyson polys take a frame less?

WalnutTreeBees wrote: ↑

30 Sep 2018, 10:23

Sounds like a great way to generate an awful lot of avoidable plastic pollution.

At the end of life, if disposed of responsibly there is no issue.
It's the idiots throwing rubbish out of their car windows after visiting the local burger joint that need educating on the detrimental effects of their irresponsible behaviour ........ don't get me going !!