The Apimaye Thermo Hive is basically a Langstroth, the internal sizes are that of the Langstroth. The hive is made from robust, tough and high quality food grade plastic and can be maintained and cleaned using mild detergents, powerwashing or scrapping unlike other plastic hive types. The plastic frames can be boiled or frozen for sterilisation.
The hive design comes from Turkey, which is the largest beekeeping country in the world, China being the largest. The Turkish Beekeeping Association assisted by nine Universities and now sponsored by the Turkish Government designed and produced it, and all credit to them.
Once you own or look at this hive you soon realise that it was designed by experienced beekeepers that had an input into the design, construction and development, everything has been thought of even ease in transportation.
The sides of the hive are made from a moulded double walled system, which has had insulation injected into it to provide insulation. It has been tested in various areas of Turkey with great success, these areas included high and low temperature ranges. It has also been designed to provide air circulation to prevent mould and condensation, this helps to prevent bees absconding, weakening and even the death of colonies.
A tour of an Apimaye Thermo Hive - we think they are the future of beekeeping!
The hive comes with a ventilated roof moulded to allow hive stacking whilst not restricting floor ventilation, the roof even has a slot across it to allow for strapping down during transportation. It has a ventilated crown board, which is also a feeder, it can be used for syrup or fondant (candy). Two supers are included, which have ten frames each, the frames are easily dismantled to allow foundation insertion on site.
The Queen excluder is also plastic giving a bee space above the brood frames allowing easy access for the bees to cover the whole frame. It has no sharp edges unlike some of the flat metal types, this helps to extend the life of the bees not damaging their wings.
The brood has ten frames, again these are easy to dismantle like the super frames. All the frames are self-spacing similar to the famous Hoffman style, and because the frames have centre supports you can use unwired foundation. The brood and supers have a castellated top bar system with bottom frame supports, these are in place for hive transportation, they can be removed easily.
It has a ventilated varroa floor with an inspection tray, this is recommended for the management of varroa mite. The floor vents are adjustable to regulate air circulation in the hive.
The entire sections clips together with heavy-duty fixed side clips, also fitted to the sides are lifting handles. All the sections are moulded to ensure correct fitting and slotting together, unlike the traditional wood hives that just stack on top of each other.
The front of the hive has an entrance door that when opened turns into an alighting board, this comes with an entrance cover to prevent direct contact with rain or sunlight. It also comes with a mouseguard, this can be removed during summer periods. To relocate the hive simply shut the entrance door at dusk, lock it and carry away, no more strapping down the sections and covering it to prevent bees escaping.
The alighting board can be colour coded (coloured entrance’s are extra) when splitting colonies, holding two nuclei or uniting. A dividing board comes with this hive, which allows this to be done, you can convert the brood into two. Research has proven that bees can tell the difference between colours so by changing the colour of the alighting board entrance the bees know which side is their colony.
The hive also prevents wax moth causing problems, wax moth burrow into the wood to lay their eggs, it is not possible in this hive.
What comes with an Apimaye Thermo Hive:
Varroa/tray and Ventilated floor
Brood body with entrance rain/sun shield
10 x Plastic Brood frames
10 x Deep unwired foundation
1 x Queen excluder
2 x Supers
20 x Plastic super frames
20 x Shallow unwired foundation
Cover board/top feeder (4ltr)
Ventilated roof
Uniting/dividing board
Bee entrance (winter/summer Mouseguard)
INOX fixing clips and handles
Above is a short video giving you a tour around the Apimaye Thermo Hive. We believe that these hives are better for the bees, and have superior capabilities that an old wooden-style hive simply cannot provide. This is why we think they are the future of beekeeping. What do you think?
To see the beekeeper looking inside a Thermo Hive, simply click on the video above.
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