Bob,

Thanks for the idea/info!  I don't know why that didn't even occur to me -
I definitely try that on one colony this year.

Do you find the bees prefer a particular/different foundation in the
polystyrene as opposed to wooden hives?  We use the black plastic
foundation for all of our wooden hives because they seem to prefer that to
the white for brood.  (Wondering if a white, reflective interior would make
a difference).

Sandy

At 11:11 AM 1/28/01 -0600, you wrote:
>SANDY - WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF DEVELOPING OUR OWN MOLDS FOR THE POLYSTYRENE
>HIVES, HAVING VERY GOOD SUCCESS WITH THEM.  HOWEVER, WE DO NOT AT THIS POINT
>HAVE ANY INTENTION TO DEVELOP A SHALLOW MOLD.  AFTER A YEAR OR TWO I SUSPECT
>THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO MODIFY THE MEDIUM MOLD TO MAKE SHALLOWS.  WE USE A LOT
>OF SHALLOWS OURSELVES - SO FOR THE TIME BEING WE WILL CONTINUE TO USE THE
>SHALLOW WOODEN SUPERS ON TOP OF THE POLYSTYRENE HIVES.  SINCE THE MAIN BENEFIT
>OF THE HIVES IS SPRING AND FALL - IT IS SOMEWHAT IRRELEVANT WHAT YOU USE FOR
>SUPERS.  BOB