Following on from the excellent PBKA Beginners' Course we are fired with enthusiasm. We need to make some decisions about our first hive, and get get bee suits and a smoker and a hive tool…
The obvious choice is to go for the tried and tested wooden National hive.
However we live in Innerleithen in the Scottish Borders which was the home of the famous beekeeper Willie Smith, designer of the Smith Hive. Since Willie Smith specifically designed his hive for this area, perhaps that would be a better choice?
On the Course in addition to timber hives, there were also some polystyrene (Poly) hives for us to look at. The benefits of the better insulating properties of this material certainly make lots of sense to us as the uninitiated.
As far as we can find, Poly Smith hives are not currently being manufactured so the choices are timber Smith or National (Poly or timber).
As all of the local beekeepers we have spoken to have National hives we have decided to follow suit, but will start with new Poly hives from Paynes.
