Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: AdmiralD on June 07, 2006, 10:51:57 pm

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: AdmiralD on June 07, 2006, 10:51:57 pm

Here is the URL for this plastic hive-

http://www.beesforeverplastics.com/

So, whatchall think?

Has anyone used the BeeMax hive and what do you think of it ?

Are any of the BeeMax hives compatable with the B4Ever hives?

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: Understudy on June 07, 2006, 11:31:25 pm

Seems neat. I will wait till they come out with the mediums.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: amymcg on June 08, 2006, 08:18:23 am

I have a beemax hive and I really like it.  It's light, easy to put together, I think they are great.  The rest of my hives are wood.  Wood and beemax are completely interchangable.

That being said from the beesforever website: Interchanges with Standard Langstroth
  wooden equipment.


So, it stands  to reaon that you could use them with beemax.  Beemax only comes in deep and meduims.

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: Apis629 on June 08, 2006, 03:39:48 pm

I'm not sure that I'd trust plastics that much.  If the supers ever break or crack they CAN'T BE REPAIRED.  Also, I have doubts on it's ability to withstand UV rays and also, it will have a complete lack of insulating value.

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: Summerbee on June 08, 2006, 04:22:07 pm

I thought about going with a full plastic hive starting out, they were actually cheaper than wooden ones... But, I really do wonder if any plastic could take the beating of sun day and day out for years.   Wouldn't it eventually just start cracking and powdering; much like the dashboard of your car when it's parked in the driveway for years? :?  I bought plastic foundation couple of months ago, and the bees hate it - I've tried everything, painting them with sugar water, etc.  I wonder if the bees like the plastic hive as much as the wooden ones?  Would a newly installed package be more apt to abscond?

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: AdmiralD on June 17, 2006, 08:18:02 pm

Quote

In answer to your questions:
1.  Our box is compatable with the BeeMax BUT it has smaller outside dimensions.
The outside dimensions are 16 1/4" x 20" o.d.

2.  Paint will not stick to the food grade polyproplylene containing U.V. inhibitor. The standard color is white.  It does NOT need painting.  Just wash it off every once in awhile.

3.  If you can e-mail me your zip code I can tell you what the shipping would be for (1) super.

4.  No we don't make bottom boards.  At this time we are producing  the 9 5/8" Ten Frame super, within the next year we should be in production with the 6 5/8" Ten Frame super.
 

I wonder about the insulating value of these  polyproplylene hives?
I also wonder if there is/are chemicals that are emitted as the hive degrades over time?

Anyone a chemist and can answer those questions? :D

Title: Insulating values, chemicals
Post by: MarkZ on October 18, 2006, 10:22:07 pm

I have a few of the Bee Forever boxes, I like them very well, I run SBB on my hives so I don’t worry about the insulation values of the box, seems like there is a lot of beek’s running SBB all winter long with good results. So with the bottom wide open the temp inside is not going to have much to do with the insulation value of the box. I have seen only one study showing wrapping the hive and the results were not conclusive either way.

Regarding plastic emitting chemicals, Polypropylene is a very stable material and does not contain PVC like vinyl does, PP is used in Food containers, Should be as safe or safer than a pine board.  If used with care they should last a long time. PP is also good for impact resistance; it tends to deflect a blow rather than a more brittle material that would crack.

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: Robo on October 18, 2006, 10:31:12 pm

Mark,

How about some pictures?  The few on the website don't really give a good view.

Thanks...

Title: Bee's Forever Plastics
Post by: Finsky on October 18, 2006, 10:37:21 pm

I wonder how bees manage in them because sun heats the wall and the hive will run hot.  I have polystyre hives and even there heat of sun goes inside. Wooden box is warmer in sunshine but solid plastics moves heat easily. On another hand,  that hive does not offer any insulation against cold in winter and during spring build up.

We had plastic bird boxes in Finland years ago. All nest were baked there when sun heated the box.

.

Title: Picture
Post by: MarkZ on October 18, 2006, 10:45:09 pm

I will see if I can get a few good pictures taken this weekend, I use the   plastic boxes as needed with the wood. I can't remember where they all are but I have one as a second deep on a nearby hive.  One more thing, the only bad thing about the box is that the long sides bowed inward slightly but not enough to cause any issues.

Title: box temps
Post by: MarkZ on October 18, 2006, 10:57:11 pm

I run the SBB on the bottom and a ventilated cover on the top, They seemed to do just as good as any other hive, so dont think with good venting it got overheated but I never did any temp checks to compare, It would be good to check and compare two side by side hives to compare the sun heating.

Title: Re: box temps
Post by: Finsky on October 18, 2006, 11:23:06 pm

Quote from: MarkZ

It would be good to check and compare two side by side hives to compare the sun heating.

In hives brood temperature is 32C. When the air temperature raises here over 30C (very seldom), bees have difficulties to cool their hives. They must carry water into hive to cool it.

I keep my hives in sunny, hot places. It makes outside temperature different but I have not measured values for instance in the shadow of the hive.