>It's not my intent to make this thread a "beat up on BeeMax" rant,

I agree.  BeeMax boxes have some really good points, but they have some problems, too.

> but I own six BeeMax hives and about 150 wood Langstroth hives. The BeeMax hives seem to do fine, but the are not exactly interchangable with other wood Langstroth components.

I don't know if you wrap for winter, but that was the first and most obvious downside I experienced when fall came and I had some hives with one wood and one BeeMax box.  What to do?

>They are not impervious to ants, especially the large black ants.

What can I say?  Ants are not good to have around hives anyhow.  I'm battling some right now.  I don't like to kill them, but they haul off larvae, bother the adults, and make requeening difficult and the hive mean.  It's them or us. This is war.

> I painted half of mine and left the other half unpainted. After four years, no difference in the paint test.

I'd like to know what that means in more detail.  I did not paint my original bunch of BeeMax and they stood up for eight years.  They look like hell, but they are still serviceable, and I figure should last another 10 years.  The Swienty box I had the same period of time seems much better in terms of surface appearance.  One thing for sure, neither will rot or be eaten by termites, and after damage, repair is fairly simple with a sharp knife or saw, some EPS for another box or somewhere and some EPS glue, plus a drywall screw.

Pictures are on my diary site.  I can't give a precise link, but a search of my site at http://www.honeybeeworld.com/beesearch.htm will give a running account of my love/hate relationship with (and recent divorce from) BeeMax over the past year and a bit.   Up until then, I was quite happy with them because I was not really paying attention and my main concern was whether the bees did well in them.

After I decided that the bees do thrive in them, I looked closer and discovered the problems.

Such is life, or so I have heard.

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