In article <[log in to unmask]>, Mike
Tooley <[log in to unmask]> writes
>The poly hives sound great,but in a normal season here our hives get chewed
>on by ground squirrels,some get tossed around by bears,skunks are
>constantly digging and scratching on them,and for good measure cows push a
>few over while rubbing .I cant imagine these hives could possibly hold up
>to this kind of abuse,the wooden ones barely do.

This merely underscores what has in reality been being said all along.
These are not the box for everyone.

I'll deal with each in turn.

Squirrels. Yes, they do eat away at them (albeit ours are tree
squirrels). Happened worst when we left straps on hives and the
squirrels gnawed through the straps and then carried on to have a gnaw
at the boxes. No straps, no chewing (which is very odd). They smooth off
the corners then seem to leave them alone. I doubt the stuff does not
taste good to them.

Bears. Nothing you can do about that, but then its the same for wood.
The poly boxes will be a bit like a snack cracker to a bear.

Skunks. This could be the killer fact for you. The claws will rip into
the polystyrene much more easily than wood. Many are made with only 80g
material which is indeed a little soft (see P-O's post), but the 100g
ones are much harder. I cannot comment on skunks, but we have
woodpeckers here, which will attack wood, but leave the polystyrene
alone, as apparently the beak sticks in the material and rather than
bouncing off they have to physically pull back and cannot get a drilling
action going. Any relevance to skunks claws? I don't know but perhaps
you do.

Cows. The original 4 piece ones will break relatively readily in these
circumstances. The new 100g one piece ones will be as tough as the
wooden ones.

In addition to this we have one particular and rather surprising
nemesis. Rabbits. There are one or two places where we just cannot put
these for winter. These are places with a high rabbit population, in
forest, and if there is serious snow cover they struggle to find food
and will chew anything sticking up above snow level. Even wooden hives
have been gnawed away almost right through the wood. Mistakenly I left a
couple of Apidea mini nucs in one of the forests one winter, and the
rabbits made short work of them. Never left poly hives there.

The underparts of the floors of some of the models have too many
protruding parts to them as well. Mice go underneath and chew these bits
away for nesting material. Never actually had any enter a hive yet, but
they can cause some damage below the floors.

The German version of the polystyrene has a plastic mesh in the floor
panel. Mice eat through this, and we are replacing all these with 10
gauge stainless steel mesh instead, which has eliminated two problems.
1. Rodent damage
2. Bees heads getting stuck in the mesh when migrating thus closing off
the airflow . (We found this happening with both the plastic grids and
with 8 gauge mesh)

There are negatives for sure, and I would not pretend otherwise.
However, as Aaron said, you have to try them to reach a valid judgement
on their worth to your bees. Their ability to fit in with what you do
and the circumstances you operate under is another matter, and if these
dictate it to be foolish then just leave them to others.


>---Mike(leaving now to run a load of bees outta the mountains,storm on the
>way)

Ditto.

--
Murray McGregor