Hi Peter. Thats a system I know well. Works a treat! Everything is compatible and you get the insulation in all the right places. Which roofs do you use?

@@BlackMountainHoney I use timber roofs. I just buy Abelo poly brood boxes to replace my old timber brood boxes.

You won't get much benefit of insulation unless you use poly roofs

Thanks Caroline. I dont think there is much between the two overall and some benefits are certainly location dependent. Scottish artic - I would definitely go for poly hives. Keep an eye out for my maisemore poly hive review coming up next week :)

In terms of durability there is only one winner. Once animals realised they can get in, they do make mincemeat of any poly hives.

There is definitely a trend towards more bee farmers using poly. My swienty wont last 40 years without serious repair though! That silly scalloped edge gets damaged way too easily. Really poor design.

Cheers for the tips. We ratchet ours down to the stands over winter so eliminate any tipping. Wooden roofs work fine but do need to be fully insulated as we have issues with condensation above the cluster. We have issues here with badgers damaging poly hives. They go straight through them. Poly hives are definitely so much lighter though! We make our own wooden floors so save on cost and get the UFE

@@BlackMountainHoney Yes good point , I forgot to add my wooden roofs have metal cover then wooden planks then Styrofoam and again wooden planks so they pretty heavy which is good to eliminate bricks or straps. Over here straps can be costly if u run 150 hives. My roof does not sit directly on the brood box it sits on a 7 litre Poly feeder so it help too with insulation. Yes your right badgers are an issue, raccoons not.

@@mywaychannel1 Ah that sounds like an ideal set up. Poly feeder with insulated wooden roof will keep them nice and cosy! Best of luck with your bees! :)

Ive never actually considered that as in the UK you will struggle to find anywhere to accurately certify as organic. Wood is certainly deemed to be a more sustainable option but not sure if poly impacts on any other status.Thanks for watching.

@@BlackMountainHoney EPP is an alternative

You will never find me arguing either way. Both are great and fit different situations :) I personally prefer the durability and aesthetics of wood, but like the insulation and weight of poly.

Great idea for a video..cheers

@@BlackMountainHoney I would love to see it apparently the Langstroth is better for Queen rearing. Cheers mate

@@headbangingzuluuk5058 Ive already got a Langstroth vs national hive video set up and ready to go. Probably around April before its released though

@@BlackMountainHoney Thanks cannot wait to see it. All the best.

It really is down to personal preference in my opinion. Wood looks a lot nicer though :)

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@Messiah Kendrick Instablaster ;)

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We use OMF floors on all of hives (see underfloor entrance video). We put a correx sheet underneath to stop drafts over winter. Dont have any issues with condensation above the cluster. A bit on the side walls is normal and fine for the bees

Very strange. Ive never experienced that. What type of poly hive as they are not all made equal :D

Maybe that extraction is a PITA? 😉😘😉

@@BlackMountainHoney ZEST honey extraction, a Pain In The Ars. Indeed not Sir. The average bee keeping association members have between them a small mortgage in bee extraction equipment. They often have a collective extractor, but it always seems to be in use when the extracting is going on, so everyone buys their own. The ZEST hive mission is to do MORE with LESS and that includes less stainless steel equipment and more free time. It is not extracted, but crushed, being hung up and strained like your Great Granny used to do. There is a ZEST video (EXTRACTING THE HONEY FROM THE ZEST HIVE) showing it on the web site This is shockingly clean method in which the honey is not spread around your loved ones kitchen surfaces. What is left in the drained down nylon mesh bag is rendered down in nylon stockings in a double saucepan in a honey heater at 43C. Initially, to get the honey out and then at 63C. to get the wax out. Alternatively it can be kept over winter and fed back to the bees in the spring as a stimulating, daily breakfast feed. The merit of crushing and straining honey is that the bees draw out new comb every year from the 6 frames that they overwinter on. Varroa is not found in a ZEST or the diseases they perpetrate. I have never seen Noseama or Acarine in one and varroa are vanishingly rare and do not need treating. So no, you do not have to spend a small fortune on stainless steel that may only get a few hours use each year. Furthermore the ZEST external envelope of aerated concrete insulation blocks costs about £50 and houses the same volume as about 5 boxes of B.S. National frames. The ZEST frames are double deep brood frames. They can be DIY or plastic from the ZEST hive Co. Natural comb is drawn down in the lattice frame made from T-bars The bigger ZEST strategy is that the ZEST is intended to encourage low cost, small scale beekeeping widely rather than commercial. Every 50 houses a ZEST is the plan,..... which is sustainable forever.

@@williamsummers6438 Fantastically detailed answer but crush and strain on anything more a couple of hives is painfully tedious, slow and you lose a substantial amount of honey the following year when the bees have to draw the wax all over again. Appreciate I am coming at it from a commercial POV but extraction is definitely more tedious than traditional hives.

Cheers Peter. Happy Christmas to you too! Just about surviving

That's really interesting. Where they blocking it up with propolis?

@@BlackMountainHoney no they were scrapeing away the polystyrene under the entrance to make it the right shape, at first i thought it was the paint they didn't like, but when i compared the wooden entrance shape to the poly it was totally different, so made one the same as the wooden hive and that solved the problem

Never actually used one but thinking I might get one to give it a whirl!

@@BlackMountainHoney I’m just waiting on delivery of one. Will be my first hive and I intend to video my progress. Hope to see some from you if and when you get one.

Clearly you need to learn more and put aside your backward conservatism.