SOLD! Transferring 5 Frame Nuc of Honey Bees to Customer’s 10 Frame APIMAYE Hive 

Bruce, I think the Apimaye hive is strictly for the backyard beekeeper. It would be way too easy for someone to back their truck up, close the bee entrances, pick them up by the handles and set them on a truck and drive away. They are too expensive to take that kind of chance. They are cool and I think whoever designed them really thought it out. If you had them in a controlled area then you could add a few a year until you got as many as you need. However, I just don’t think they’re for a commercial beekeeper.

Interesting take. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I have two, and I love them. As you surmised, they seem tough to use in bulk, but if you look over the internet, there seem to be people using lots of them. They come with lots of bells and whistles, each of which is probably a $15-$20 additional cost and piece of gear if you're buying from one of the big suppliers: hive top feeders, the ability to split it as a queen castle and actually do the combine in the box, pollen trap, latches, grooves for straps to fit perfectly and hold it down. They are just extremely well made. They have an active Facebook group, and their customer service is phenomenal. Apimaye is a Turkish company, with an American affiliate. Their local reps are active in the FB group. If you're not a pollen collector, be sure and remove the pollen collecting parts, and put the plug in. The ones that really look nice to me are their 7 frame versions, and there is a company online that now sells 7 frame wooden supers to go on top if you go that way. Back in '17, I asked Korhan (from Apimaye) how it's pronounced, and his response was: "That's a fair question. We asked our manufacturing partner about the origin of it. API is for bee, and MAYE is the initial of the founder of the plastic company, his wife and 2 kids. In Turkish they say it as API (like Hoppy without H), MA (just like grandma) YE (like Yes without S) We heard people call Api-May and honestly it sounds better to us. So we'll probably stick with that :)"

brucesbees we love ours! We got convinced after watching Kamon Reynolds talk about them! We have had ours about 2 months! We did notice on the really hot days we have had so far that the bees absolutely didn’t have as hard a time keeping them cool as the other hives did! Looking forward to seeing how you feel about yours!

Awesome! Thanks for checking in!

Yes I do not want to sell junk. If they are not full I do not intend to sell them. Even still it makes me a little nervous. There is no guarantee with bees but I want to give them the best chance for success. Thanks for checking in!

Thanks for the input. I was impressed and am going to try out one for myself. Wouldn’t mind at least having my backyard bees in these hives but they are still quite a bit more pricey than my wooden hives. I now order most of my components by the pallet so it is quite inexpensive for me.

Thanks again for checking in!!!

@@brucesbees I would talk to the "Apimayee" directly are point out you have about 5k subscribers on your channel. They may be willing or able to do a cost deal for the free advertising you are giving them. Cheers and bee safe.

Hey thanks for checking in! I may do that!

How long do they last plastic doesn't last long in the sun

Absolutely worth the money for reasons you stated but most of my equipment is bare bones. I don’t usually use a lot of the bells and whistles with my hives. I would still like to have more of these fit my backyard. They look nice and the bees thrive in them, but I can’t afford to spend the money to buy a bunch of these.

Yes I think it is a phenomenal product. May at least try to replace my backyard boxes with them. They look so nice compared to those that are back there now. Just ordered a double deep. I actually need a couple of mediums as well but at $90 apiece that will take awhile.

Russell Koopman actually, these hives insulate both ways. I had no bearding at all in the Apimayes and my wooden hives struggled with the heat. I wish I could post a photo

@@ingridsilvernale6027 I thought I said that by "staying cooler" in a southern climate. But he is right, it's a big investment. But it maybe a good investment.

Russell Koopman ahhhhh! My apologies. Your post was cut off and I didn’t see that you wrote more than I read 🤦🏼

Yes I am excited to give them a try!

This is actually the nuc your second one came from.

With a new Sleeping Bear queen.

Hmm. I guess it’s possible! Thanks for checking in!

You’ll get there. Just have to commit lol. It’s tough though right now for sure.

Some people say yes but I have no idea. They seem well built. If cared for my guess is they will last a good long time.

Apimaye USA is in Mesa, AZ, and based on what I've seen from them, it certainly won't be the sun destroying the hives, nor water. I expect my hives to last a good long time.

That is a great and difficult question. Would love to have feedback from other viewers. It is a little risky to only have one hive because if they fail or die out then you will have complete loss and it can get very discouraging. But to answer your question your strategy might work if you do not want to split them. In a perfect world they would swarm early each year and replace their queen and just keep going. Of course we don’t live in a perfect world. I would try to make sure they have the appropriate amount of space to hopefully discourage swarming and see what happens. The best option if possible would be to get a local mentor to help you figure it out in your area. Thanks for checking in. Good luck!!!

@@brucesbees Thanks for the response. I just don't want to start with one or two hives and end up with 20. I guess just letting them swarm and not capture them is an option. Just wasn't sure if that was a good plan if I didn't want to keep growing. Thanks again. I'll look for someone in my area for mentorship. Good idea!

www.sleepingbearfarms.com/

Try this number for their Florida location. +1 (850) 638-4422

I would not do this if temperatures were still cool but have found that doing this at this time of the year (when warm and in a flow) works very well. Sometimes the bees will draw out all the frames in a week or two. I put these bees in the box Friday morning and by the time the customer arrived that evening the bees were already drawing out the foundation. I too have had people who are critical of doing it this way and that’s fine. I would say, do it however you want. Just to reiterate. I would never do this if it were cold, but checkerboarding like this during a flow seems to snap them into overdrive when it comes to drawing comb. When adding honey supers I usually do not do it this way though. Usually just do it with brood boxes.

Yes would like to try more but too pricey for me to use them on a large scale.

@@brucesbees I was interested because I wanted to, but it is an impossible price.

I can definitely see that. Good thing bees like wood too!!!

If you want to shake your head and move on that’s fine, but please explain how checker boarding does more harm than good.

Yes burr comb is basically wax the bees build on places where the beekeeper does not want it. Another name for it might be “wonky comb”. So it is the same stuff just not organized the way you would want it as a beekeeper.

No I do not. Not quite big enough to sell queens yet. I may sell some in the near future.