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Mother Lode polystyrene boxes

1204 Views 32 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  GregB, 
crab414
Has anyone tried these yet? The description says that they snap together in under a minute and requires no screws, nails nor painting.
The price is decent with shipping factored in. They are shipped out of California and if I get 10 of them, they cost $22 apiece.
What say you? Worth the gamble?
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AHudd
crab414 said:
Has anyone tried these yet? The description says that they snap together in under a minute and requires no screws, nails nor painting.
The price is decent with shipping factored in. They are shipped out of California and if I get 10 of them, they cost $22 apiece.
What say you? Worth the gamble?
Click to expand...
Is Mother Lode the brand name?

Alex
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crab414
Yup. They make frame feeders that are very affordable and great quality. I think they may also be coming out with plastic frames as well.
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V
I've never had them, but I know several folks that do, and they like them. I have their frame feeders, and they are great feeders.
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crab414
As a group, we bee keepers need more vendors promoting American made products that are affordable and taking care of our own.
I'm going to order 10 medium 10 frame polystyrene supers and see how they fare. Competition should bring out the best and the big bee supply companies are not doing right by us.
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T
I just looked.... So you are taking about the MEDIUM ones WITHOUT the insulation sides.... Kinda defeats the purpose 😔.
I bought some used poly hives, the kind at blue sky has. With their top I got water inside when we had a 1.5 week of rain....not happy about that. They are dry now and putting holes in the bottom for this issue was not what I wanted to do.

I will say nice lighter weight.
But not sure it is worth the issue of condensation and water build up in rainy season
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J
Tigger19687 said:
I just looked.... So you are taking about the MEDIUM ones WITHOUT the insulation sides.... Kinda defeats the purpose 😔.
I bought some used poly hives, the kind at blue sky has. With their top I got water inside when we had a 1.5 week of rain....not happy about that. They are dry now and putting holes in the bottom for this issue was not what I wanted to do.

I will say nice lighter weight.
But not sure it is worth the issue of condensation and water build up in rainy season
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Maybe the inner cover from Reflectix would seal to prevent water entry?
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J
I know nothing about the plastic boxes but I have purchased feeders directly from them in the past and the company was a pleasure to deal with.
Their cap and ladder system is unique in that it can easily be cleared with a hive tool,unlike those stupid round ones that must be disassembled.

Years ago,my club would solicit items to auction as a club fund raiser and Mother Lode would always deliver.
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M
I am testing out a couple of the Mother Lode deep black plastic frames right now. I have them checkerboarded in a box with Acorn Deep's to see how they compare.

They appear to be out of stock now, but I ordered them through Blythewood Bee Co.
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T
jtgoral said:
Maybe the inner cover from Reflectix would seal to prevent water entry?
Click to expand...
I had that, and the vents in the cover had duct tape over them 🤷 I have no idea how it happened, maybe it was too much condensation??
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F
crab414 said:
Has anyone tried these yet? The description says that they snap together in under a minute and requires no screws, nails nor painting.
The price is decent with shipping factored in. They are shipped out of California and if I get 10 of them, they cost $22 apiece.
What say you? Worth the gamble?
Click to expand...
They are polypropylene, not polystyrene. I use them and like them well enough that I have stopped buying wooden boxes. If using them for brood boxes, get the ones with the insulating panels. They have little tabs on the bottoms of the boxes that help keep the boxes together when stacked, but they don't line up with the rest of my boxes and equipment, so I have to snap those off before using them. Other than that, they work fine. I did mess up on one order I placed and have some deeps without the insulating panels, but the bees over wintered fine in them too. They are lighter than wooden boxes, don't need painting, never rot, and don't need to be nailed, screwed, or glued together.
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crab414
Thanks for correcting me 😉. This is what I wanted to hear. I didn't see see any size options on their website. Do they carry 8 frame boxes as well?
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F
crab414 said:
Thanks for correcting me 😉. This is what I wanted to hear. I didn't see see any size options on their website. Do they carry 8 frame boxes as well?
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Just 10 frame
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Kamon A. Reynolds
I used 4 of the Motherlode poly boxes. Both colonies overwintered just fine and are doing well
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Q
crab414 said:
Has anyone tried these yet? The description says that they snap together in under a minute and requires no screws, nails nor painting.
The price is decent with shipping factored in. They are shipped out of California and if I get 10 of them, they cost $22 apiece.
What say you? Worth the gamble?
Click to expand...
crab414 said:
Has anyone tried these yet? The description says that they snap together in under a minute and requires no screws, nails nor painting.
The price is decent with shipping factored in. They are shipped out of California and if I get 10 of them, they cost $22 apiece.
What say you? Worth the gamble?
Click to expand...
Bees and environment are already so very stressed and plastic and petrochemical laden -- why add more?! Please, for the bees and for all of us, stay away from the plastic boxes.
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J
Queen V said:
Bees and environment are already so very stressed and plastic and petrochemical laden -- why add more?! Please, for the bees and for all of us, stay away from the plastic boxes.
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How do you know that plastic boxes stress the bees? Any proof for that?
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crab414
Maybe we should mask up our bees 😉
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GregB
Queen V said:
Bees and environment are already so very stressed and plastic and petrochemical laden -- why add more?! Please, for the bees and for all of us, stay away from the plastic boxes.
Click to expand...
False statement.

Usually comes from those who have no real-life experience with the energy-efficient equipment.
The energy-efficient equipment (basically - foams or similar plastics) just works - in appropriate use-cases.
I am coming from purely bee-development prospective - having been experimenting with it for some years now.
If these bees are stressed, then I have no idea why they are exploding like a sourdough starter (for being very stressed).



"stay away from the plastic boxes" - while I tend to agree as far as new equipment goes (which will eventually end in the landfill) - upcycling and repurposing the already existing plastics makes all kinds of sense.

I want to think that the plastic hive boxes are coming (or can and should be coming) from recycling.

PS: I admit I personally still prefer wood for my personal bee products - different subject.
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chrisnbarnes
Nick (owner of Motherloade) donated one of the medium boxes for each of the kids in my club's youth program. I've only seen them in use for 2 years now, but I have to say I absolutely LOVE them - to the point I plan on trying out some of the insulated deep versions of the box in my hives this year.

... I am a sideliner (70 hives), but I do send some of my hives to CA for almond pollination with another big-time commercial guy. Part of my requirement is that the equipment has to be 100% interchangeable with everything else so it doesn't cause issues if it gets send to almonds.
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T
I use them, the deeps with panels and run about 50 here in Oklahoma. They survived-21 and highs in the low 100s in the summer. I use the mediums for supers with plastic frames acorn. They are left outside because without brood they don't need anything and that's another subject
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