Whats The Best Beehive - Poly Hives vs Wooden Hives - Which Beehive is Best

Подписаться 44 тыс.

Просмотров 15 тыс.

50% 1

Whats The Best Beehive - Poly Hives vs Wooden Hives - Which Beehive is Best
This is one of the great beekeeping debates. Which is better? Poly hives or wooden hives. In this video I discuss the pros and cons of using poly and wooden hives.
This video was uploaded to RU-vid on 16th Sept 2020 and goes live on the channel in January 2021.
For early video access, join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @blackmountainhoney
If you are interested in learning more about our beekeeping activities, then why not follow us on social media or visit our website:
Facebook - @BlackMountainHoney
Twitter - @BlackMountHoney
Instagram - blackmountain_honey
www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk
If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our channel using the link below.
ru-vid.com...
Thanks for watching. Please give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video.
Black Mountain Honey is a No Nonsense Beekeeping Channel.
We are based in North Wales and manage around 150 colonies of bees, plus nucleus colonies.
We produce Great Taste Award winning honey and sell nucleus colonies to members of the public.
Our 6 frame overwintered nucleus colonies sell out very fast every year so early ordering is advisable.
www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/...
We supply F1 Mated Buckfast Queens throughout the season. These are genetics used by the UK's biggest bee farmer - Murray McGregor - and are not available to general public, except through resellers like us! Check out our queens page on our website.
www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/...
We are passionate about beekeeping and really enjoy helping beekeepers through our RU-vid channel.
On our channel you can find information on making splits with swarm cells, making increase with queen cells, grafting larvae, foulbrood and disease inspection, honey extraction and machinery, top tips for beginners, products reviews, instructions and guidance plus much more.
#NO NONSENSE BEEKEEPING is a UK based beekeeping channel, designed to keep beekeeping as simple and enjoyable as possible. There are no overly complicated techniques or intricate pieces of equipment.
We cover all beekeeping topics ranging from queen rearing, disease recognition/control, honey extraction, swarm management/collection, how to make splits and much more!
My personal favourite aspects of beekeeping are selecting queens for rearing, rearing queens for mating, making up nucs for overwintering and collecting swarms.
We aim to bridge the gap between commercial and hobbyist beekeepers and cater for beekeepers of all experience levels.
No matter what your level of experience, please hit the subscribe button and join us on our journey!
Join this channel to get access to perks:
/ @blackmountainhoney
Joining our channel gives you a range of perks including 100% advert free videos and early access to premium video content.
Check out our US/UK Amazon Storefront. We earn a small commission from any products your purchase through our links and this helps support our channel. Thanks for any purchases :)
www.amazon.co.uk/shop/blackmo...
www.amazon.com/shop/blackmoun...
If you are interested in learning more about our beekeeping activities, then why not follow us on social media or visit our website:
Facebook - / blackmountainhoney
Twitter - / blackmounthoney
Instagram - / blackmountain_honey
Websites: www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk
Websites: www.hotfirehoney.co.uk
Nucs: www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/...
Queens: www.blackmountainhoney.co.uk/...
If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our channel using the link below.
ru-vid.com...
Thanks for watching. Please give us a thumbs up if you enjoyed the video.

Опубликовано:

14 июл 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 57

@PaulyPaulPaul Год назад

Thanks for an honest review. I have been mulling over getting pollyhives for improved overwintering, but it sounds like that isn't a big factor.

@carolinecampbell6600 3 года назад

i love the fact you stuck up for both, for the ladies poly is easier to lift, and bejazzle, also i am in the scottish artic, it gets to -18 her sometimes and more importantly its damp, i started with my mentor with wood but am a maisiemore woman now. love my ladies.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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 :)

@heavymechanic2 Год назад

I'm across the pond in USA and wondered about the durability of poly hives vs wood. Our market is flooded with hive kits from Asia and the wood is lightweight as compared to local pine. A neighbor was intrigued to see my bees were alive in wood hives after some very cold windy arctic weather. There is a plastic molded hive injected with poly insulation that is becoming popular but very costly, I have one on order to try it out.. Like you said, the bees will adapt and maintaining a strong colony is more important then the hive box.

@petermcfadden9426 3 года назад

I'm changing from all-timber National hives to Abelo poly brood boxes and leaving the rest of the hive in timber. Best of both worlds, and they work well here in Conwy, North Wales.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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?

@petermcfadden9426 3 года назад

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

@simbobcrafts4843 2 месяца назад

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

@jesshowe4591 3 года назад

We moved bees a lot and some places we take them to have sheep in same field sheep will take a big bite out of poly hives but also lots of rabbits Around The Hives rabbits will nor on the corners of poly hives and rats so the bulk of our hives is wood for that reason.👍👏

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@kaistumer198 Год назад

I‘ve got poly hives that allready have 50+ years of use, and sure they will do 20-50 more. But working with poly hives is different compared to wood and you have to adapt for that. There is one big problem with poly, the walls are thicker, which means you need more room for them. In the end this easly means that you lose 40 hives on a full truck load

@maleficent3333 Год назад

i'm based in poland, and have wooden hives with poly isolation between 2 walls of wood, and full poly hives, one thing i noticed, poly has higher moisture wooden is dryer, also i have trouble keeping population of pseudoscorpions in my polly hives, while they do fine in wooden ones.

@mywaychannel1 3 года назад

Great video thanks. Im based in Poland im using Dadant Poly hives. The only 2 things i would had here are 1. Poly hives are light so its better making your own wooden roof which is heavy to keep it from blowing away. The Poly roofs will need bricks or ratchet straps. 2. One issue we sometimes have here are woodpeckers and raccoons can damage Poly hives if you keep them over winter in very rural areas. I have Poly deeps but made my own wooden bottom boards and roofs.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@mywaychannel1 3 года назад

@@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.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

@@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! :)

@tidymeup 3 года назад

We’re already at 12 years use on our paradise langstroth hives. They will easily last 40+ years. Coming from a background of equipment supply buying in bulk, the price is probably fairly comparable. A good few bee farming businessss worldwide and UK do use poly hives commercially.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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.

@rickwarner9142 3 года назад

Good information thanks for sharing this as poly hives become more available the best point is fit. If you can’t mix and match its best to be rich. Again thanks ( wood for this old man )👍🏽😂❤️❤️❤️

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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.

@nynotetis 3 года назад

Hi. Do you use screen bottom board with you polyhives or the solid ones? If solid - do you have any moisture problems in winter?

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@headbangingzuluuk5058 3 года назад

Also which is the best hive Langstroth or commercial dont think anyone has done a vid on that. Great video buddy learning a lot.

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

Great idea for a video..cheers

@headbangingzuluuk5058 3 года назад

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

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@headbangingzuluuk5058 3 года назад

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

@rodneymiddleton9624 3 года назад

Great information. I'm going to stay with wood for now unless they become cost effective. Thanks

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@messiahkendrick5007 2 года назад

i guess Im asking randomly but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow forgot the password. I love any tips you can offer me!

@haydenenrique5980 2 года назад

@Messiah Kendrick Instablaster ;)

@messiahkendrick5007 2 года назад

@Hayden Enrique Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site on google and Im trying it out atm. Takes a while so I will reply here later with my results.

@messiahkendrick5007 2 года назад

@Hayden Enrique It worked and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy! Thank you so much, you saved my ass !

@eastsussexbeesandwildlife5801 3 года назад

Thanks and have a good Christmas. Hope you have not been washed away by the rain!

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@danielcollins9628 Год назад

What about in the tropics.u reckon poly would be better cause of high humidity

@AntoniVideoCh 3 года назад

Great video, thanks! Poly are light and easy to use and move but not suitable for organic productions, isn't it?

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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.

@soupvis2616 2 года назад

@@BlackMountainHoney EPP is an alternative

@tudorevans9306 4 месяца назад

You missed out a cleaning con for poly hives compared to wooden hives?

@blackcreekorganicfarm296 2 года назад

Had to move some boxes last night that I bought There was one poly hive All full off honey. Poly hive caused me issues with the movement of the hive compared to wood.

@BlackMountainHoney 2 года назад

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

@williamsummers6438 2 года назад

Better than both on performance and price is aerated concrete blocks built to suit the frames. Cost for a ZEST hive external envelope of 24 blocks x 600mm is less than £50 (volume exceeds 5 B.S. Brood chambers) and last almost for ever. Made from pulverised fuel ash, cement and a lot of air bubbles and has 39 times better Resistance (R) to the passage of heat then a wood one. What is there not to like?

@BlackMountainHoney 2 года назад

Maybe that extraction is a PITA? 😉😘😉

@williamsummers6438 2 года назад

@@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.

@BlackMountainHoney 2 года назад

@@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.

@carolinecampbell6600 3 года назад

i had to make a wooden entrance for the hives, they did not like the shape of the polyhive entrance!

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@carolinecampbell6600 3 года назад

@@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

@LishmanJamie 3 года назад

What do you think of the FlowHive?

@BlackMountainHoney 3 года назад

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

@LishmanJamie 3 года назад

@@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.