[MrWright]

Hello, I guess I'm not technically a beekeeper yet as I don't have any bees as of right now, have been researching honey bees for the past 3 months and pulled the trigger on one of those "overpriced" Apimaye hives 2 months ago, continuing research and have ordered a Saskatraz bee nuc for the first hive, going to be ordering more parts to piece together a 2nd hive that I will use as a swarm trap to see if I can get free bee's for hive number 2. Located in a suburb so I'm going to try to limit myself to 4 hives if possible, we'll see what happens though.

 

[rwlaw]

Welcome and good luck with your bees!

 

[Cloverdale]

Welcome.

 

[Litsinger]

MrWright:

Welcome to Beesource! I really looked long and hard at the Apimaye hives before finally settling on the tried-and-true. I will look forward to your feedback on how the highly-insulated hive assembly works for you.

You mentioned getting parts for a second hive- are you going to standardize around Apimaye or utilize some traditional woodenware for comparison?

Good luck in your beekeeping efforts this coming season.

Russ

 

[MrWright]

MrWright:

Welcome to Beesource! I really looked long and hard at the Apimaye hives before finally settling on the tried-and-true. I will look forward to your feedback on how the highly-insulated hive assembly works for you.

You mentioned getting parts for a second hive- are you going to standardize around Apimaye or utilize some traditional woodenware for comparison?

Good luck in your beekeeping efforts this coming season.

Russ

The parts I'm going to be getting for Hive 2 will be Apimaye but I've got a feeling based off how the wife is moaning and groaning about my spending that hive 3 and 4 may be wood.
The way I look at it is similar to comparing a new vehicle to a old vehicle, the new guy comes with all these new features like adaptive cruise control, heated/cooled seats, and a heated steering wheel, a lot of people will say what do you need all that for and continue to drive good ol reliable and there's nothing wrong with that. But I would also guess that most of those people have never owned a vehicle with those features and don't realize that no matter how big or small those creature comforts are, the improvements these features bring to their driving experience will make it worth it.

 

[Cloverdale]

Maybe a nice bouquet of flowers for your wife might do you good, and a big smile too.

 

[JWPalmer]

Don't forget a nice bottle of wine with those flowers. The Apimaye hive has a lot of nice features built in. The price is not bad for what you get.

 

[Litsinger]

But I would also guess that most of those people have never owned a vehicle with those features and don't realize that no matter how big or small those creature comforts are, the improvements these features bring to their driving experience will make it worth it.

Good point, MrWright. I sincerely hope your upcoming beekeeping year exceeds your expectations.

Russ

 

[Cloverdale]

MrWright, I forgot to mention to sign up for Ron Miksha’s blog titled: Bad Beekeeping Blog. He is from your neck of the woods, a very informed experienced beekeeper. Deb

https://badbeekeepingblog.com/2020/02/15/a-guide-to-controlling-varroa/

above is his newest blog

 

[MrWright]

MrWright, I forgot to mention to sign up for Ron Miksha’s blog titled: Bad Beekeeping Blog. He is from your neck of the woods, a very informed experienced beekeeper. Deb

https://badbeekeepingblog.com/2020/02/15/a-guide-to-controlling-varroa/

above is his newest blog

Thanks! :thumbsup:

 

[grozzie2]

The parts I'm going to be getting for Hive 2 will be Apimaye but I've got a feeling based off how the wife is moaning and groaning about my spending that hive 3 and 4 may be wood.
The way I look at it is similar to comparing a new vehicle to a old vehicle, the new guy comes with all these new features like adaptive cruise control, heated/cooled seats, and a heated steering wheel, a lot of people will say what do you need all that for and continue to drive good ol reliable and there's nothing wrong with that. But I would also guess that most of those people have never owned a vehicle with those features and don't realize that no matter how big or small those creature comforts are, the improvements these features bring to their driving experience will make it worth it.

There is a flaw in your cars analogy. My bee truck is a 2000 Tundra 4x4 with a flat deck, it's about as basic as they come. Our family car is a 2020 Prius Prime with all the bells you mention and a lot more, and in another week it'll have 10,000 km on it. I full well realize the difference between them, and the 'nice' bits about the new car. Beehives are very different.

The first big difference is, you wont have 'a' beehive, you will have a fleet of beehives. One of the most important bits about fleet maintenance over time is having common parts, ie things are interchangeable. If you have two, and they serve distinctly different purposes, then you aren't going to be concerned about things being interchangeable. OTOH, when you have 4 and they all serve the exact same purpose, it starts to become important for them to be interchangeable. Can you take the fancy Apimaye lid and stick it on a stack of wooden boxes ? Flow is running strong and you need another honey super on a stack, will the wood supers fit on the plastic boxes, or vice versa ?

If you are only going to have two, it's not a big deal, But you already mention going to 4, and switching box types for anything after two. I think in time you'll dearly wish everything was interchangeable, and value that much higher than the bells and whistles available on the luxury model.

 

[Cloverdale]

MrWright, there was talk on another forum regarding the Apimaye hive. Everyone that had one loved it; a few people (the usual grumbles) argued they were plastic. But one point came up regarding AFB. One guy said you can clean the Apimaye hive of the AFB spores because the plastic won’t absorb the spores. I am wondering what your Bee Laws say in Calgary regarding AFB. Do they take into consideration plastic hive bodies that could be cleaned? Just a thought.

 

[MrWright]

There is a flaw in your cars analogy. My bee truck is a 2000 Tundra 4x4 with a flat deck, it's about as basic as they come. Our family car is a 2020 Prius Prime with all the bells you mention and a lot more, and in another week it'll have 10,000 km on it. I full well realize the difference between them, and the 'nice' bits about the new car. Beehives are very different.

The first big difference is, you wont have 'a' beehive, you will have a fleet of beehives. One of the most important bits about fleet maintenance over time is having common parts, ie things are interchangeable. If you have two, and they serve distinctly different purposes, then you aren't going to be concerned about things being interchangeable. OTOH, when you have 4 and they all serve the exact same purpose, it starts to become important for them to be interchangeable. Can you take the fancy Apimaye lid and stick it on a stack of wooden boxes ? Flow is running strong and you need another honey super on a stack, will the wood supers fit on the plastic boxes, or vice versa ?

If you are only going to have two, it's not a big deal, But you already mention going to 4, and switching box types for anything after two. I think in time you'll dearly wish everything was interchangeable, and value that much higher than the bells and whistles available on the luxury model.

You aren't wrong about having parts that can be interchanged, I read from Apimaye themselves that wooden boxs shouldn't work on top of their equipment and vice versa but I've seen a couple youtubers now who were using wooden ware such as supers on top of the plastic stuff without issue but it does not work the other way around.

MrWright, there was talk on another forum regarding the Apimaye hive. Everyone that had one loved it; a few people (the usual grumbles) argued they were plastic. But one point came up regarding AFB. One guy said you can clean the Apimaye hive of the AFB spores because the plastic won’t absorb the spores. I am wondering what your Bee Laws say in Calgary regarding AFB. Do they take into consideration plastic hive bodies that could be cleaned? Just a thought.

I'm still gathering info and don't remember reading this but I'm glad to hear I won't have to destroy my hive/frames should the colonies suffer from AFB

 

[Edgewater]

Hi, I'm a 3rd year beek who has standardized on the 7 frame Apimaye hives. Just checked on my bees a couple of days ago and all is well. Maybe it's beginner's luck but I love the Apimaye hives for a central NH cold climate. Also really love the Sask bees - very productive and gentle. I'll never have more than 3 hives, so the Apimaye hive configuration is perfect for my needs. I bought some well made stainless steel hardware; waxed dipped boxes) wooden deep supers that fit the 7 frame deep Apimaye hives from Ohio Bee Box Co - another Apimaye owner had worked with them to get the dimensions right. I then bought extra latches from Apimaye. The trickiest issue for me was figuring out a way to do OAV without melting any plastic. A cheap metal Walmart cake pan fit the slides of my bottom board perfectly, so I've mounted my wand in the pan, and it's an easy process to slide in the pan to do the treatments.

Good luck with your Sask bees and the Apimaye hives!