8 Frames poly Super ParadiseHoney®

01 · WHICH FRAME GOES IN

48 × 16 cm, and timber or plastic makes no difference

It is the question that comes up most and the answer is exact: it takes 48 × 16 cm frames — 480 × 160 mm — and no others. Watch this one, because shallow supers run to several frame heights depending on country and maker: if your shallow frames are shorter, they will not sit as they should. The frame material makes no difference: timber or plastic both work as long as the size is that one. And they are not included — the super comes on its own.

02 · IT NEEDS PAINTING

And not with just any paint

Polystyrene does not rot and does not take up moisture, but the sun does attack it: an unpainted super degrades on the surface season after season. What is recommended is a coat of water-based exterior paint or polyurethane, preferably UV-protected. What must not go on it is enamel or any solvent-based paint: they attack the material and eat into it. Done properly it is one-off maintenance — the coat lasts decades, and after that the part asks for nothing more.

03 · NO FRAME SPACER

The thing owners ask for most

Worth saying before you buy, because it is the complaint buyers keep making: it comes with no spacer or frame rest. In a shallow super where people often run eight or nine frames instead of ten, that means the frame shifts while you work or move the hive, and you have to sort it separately. It is not a manufacturing fault — plenty of supers are sold this way — but it is something to plan for if you are coming from kit that includes one as standard.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a part of the BeeBox system, which brings the other check: polystyrene boxes have their own external footprint, wider than a timber hive of the same name. It stacks with BeeBox kit; on a timber hive it will not seat.