> I flipped through the May ABJ and did not see a single ad for the plastic
 > boxes...

 >I tried samples of the Shamrock solid boxes.

I'd be interested in your experience with them, and any other
comments anyone else can add.

 > These are different than the foam boxes which Jerry Hayes (Dadant) 
sent me
 > to test which I suspect are similar to what Allen uses.

I'd also be interested in what you decided about them as well.

For the record, I have gone over to the EPS boxes exclusively.  I
have mostly BeeMax boxes now, but my friends, the Meijers
have invested in a mold which is run by Beaver Plastics near
Edmonton and are now using thousands of the boxes and, I
imagine, will convert completely in the next few years.  I'll be
using them in the future as they are much stronger and do
not require assembly, which -- done right -- is time-consuming.

They figure the savings in terms of wrapping and unwrapping
labour alone will pay for the conversion quite quickly in their
7,000 hive operation.  The other benefits are just gravy.

With any change, there are always a few wrinkles and this may
be one.  Increased varroa reproduction is another, but not a
problem here where Apivar is extremely effective.  As backup,
I have shown to our satisfaction that oxalic evaporation can be
used where Apivar may fail in some future date.

That said, though, Meijers and others have been raising cells in
thousands of EPS nucs for years now, so this new observation
may just be a factor to consider when deploying new boxes
which have not been previously occupied or aired out.

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