Hi John & All,

>  I had some polystyrene left over from a building project and was thinking
>of trying some polystyrene hives this next year.
>

I wood expect the polystyrene you are considering to use is regulare panles
that are used to insulate buildings and such. Those panles are a relitivly
low dynsity around 25 psi. and are to soft for hive bodies. When I make hive
bodioes from Styrofoam I get high dynsity foam that is normally used to
insulate roads from permafrost and it is 60 psi.. 60 psi. is as high as you
can find without special ordering and spending  more for it. Also any higher
than that you have to buy it buy the 100 count because to make a run of it
they will only do it making 100 at the least. ^0 psi is plenty strong enough
I have found. Bees will chew on the foam so it needs some painting to
prevent them from chewing. The bees will propolis it together just like wood
and this is why you need the 60 psi. other wise the boxes will start
chuncking apart. Make them with top bee space and simply use a peice of
plexiglass for a inner cover and and peice of styrofoam for the top. Glue
and screw ripped wood on a peice of styrofoam to make a bottom board. When
making the rabbit for the frame rest cut it deeper than you need to inset a
peice of ripped wood so the frames do not get propolised to the styrofoam.
Use a router to make the hand holds. You can use just a bottom entrance but
you can also simply drill holes below the hand hold just like some
beekeepers do in the wood boxes.

>All of the boxes I saw on the market are expanded poly.  Has anyone else
>explored this issue?
>

The reason for there cost is they are a high dynsity foam that is molded.
These molds are expensive to make. They are also well made with an excilent
frame rest. They are so hard that there is no need to paint them to keep the
bees from chewing it up. They are lighter than wood and if you paint the out
side of the boxes they will last a very long time. Like you I can not afford
to buy them, but wish I could, so I build them myself.
   . ..
c(((([
Keith Malone
Chugiak, Alaska USA http://www.cer.org/
Caucasian Bee Keeper
http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney

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