10F Hive Body Langstroth Poly Paradise Honey

01 · HOW MANY FRAMES, AND WHICH

Ten, standard Langstroth

It takes ten Langstroth frames of the usual kind — 48 × 23 cm — in wood or in plastic; there is no special frame to buy. And it is worth knowing how the system is laid out: there is no shallow super, every box is identical, so growing upwards means stacking boxes of the same height.

02 · WHAT THE POLYSTYRENE BRINGS

It insulates, takes no water and weighs nothing

At over 100 kg/m³ this is not the white foam of packaging: it stands up to handling and stacking without crumbling. The insulating wall keeps the inside steadier through heat waves and cold nights, and the colony spends less energy on thermoregulation. It weighs a fraction of the equivalent wooden box, and you notice that by the third inspection of the day.

03 · THE PAINT

Outside only, and not just any

Polystyrene neither rots nor takes up damp, but the sun does attack it: a coat of paint is not cosmetic, it is what makes the box last decades. Use water-based exterior paint or polyurethane, preferably with UV protection. What you must not use is enamel or anything with solvent, which attack the material. And paint the outside only: leave the inside bare, because the bees end up coating it with propolis anyway.

04 · CLEANING AND WAX MOTH

No blowtorch, and no careless storage

There is no flaming here: dirt comes off by hand or with a steam generator, and if disease has gone through the hive you turn to caustic soda, a dishwasher tablet dissolved in five litres of water or a livestock disinfectant such as Virkon® S, always following its label. And a warning wood does not need: the wax moth damages polystyrene too, so storing the boxes clean and aired matters more here than with a pine box.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Frames go separately, and so does the paint. The accessories that sit on the box — roofs, floors, feeders — belong to the BeeBox system: the wall is thicker than on a wooden hive and the external footprint does not match.