I am a fan of betterbee but not the Styrofoam hives so much.
I was given the 10 frame un-assembled beginner kit with plastic frames and small gloves a couple years ago. I changed over to wooden frames. If you aren't going to use every single thing in the kit, just order items you will use separately and skip the kit. While I was happy to receive as a gift, I never use the gloves, or the book. I also use a different type of feeder than the hivetop one that came with the kit, so that is also unused...I was wondering if anybody has purchased products from betterbee in Greenwich, NY and has a review of their beemax Polstyrene products (telescoping outer cover and hive top feeder). I was also wondering if anybody has purchased the betterbee 10 Frame Unassembled Beginner's Kit w/ Wooden Frames, Wax Foundation and Small Gloves. Thanks, DP
Link to kit- http://www.betterbee.com/Unassembled...h-Small-Gloves
Took me about 30 seconds to find the telescoping outer cover in wood on their website.My only problem is that I would like to keep my entire order from betterbee, but they don't sell the hive top feeder and telescoping outer cover in wood. Thanks, DP
I agree with the ease of assembly for the BeeMax hives, which is why I went with BeeMax last year when I restarted beekeeping with one hive after 8 years away (we had hives for 4 years). I ended up with 2 hives by last Fall, combined into 1, and they survived the winter as a super strong hive here in Western NY. Didn't have to wrap the hive and we had a lot of snow and a cold winter. They didn't need any emergency feeding. I would like to believe that the styrofoam helped in that aspect.Unless you have a strong preference for ease of assembly, I'd recommend wood over beemax for hives. I do like their covers, and they sell a Beemax cover for the wood hives, which I also have.
are you certain you can draw the conclusion that the hive body was the cause of their demise?A great sealer for wooden feeders is beeswax. Used it and have no leaks
I use beemax supers which have kept my bees alive in Western Mass winters while my wooden hives bees died under same weather conditions