Paradise® 6F Dadant US nuc poly

01 · ONE OR TWO

The divider and the double entrance

With the divider board in place the box becomes two independent compartments, each with its own entrance and its own queen. That is what lets you run two matings — or hold two spare queens — in the space and the warmth of a single box.

When you split it, the two entrances should not face the same way: if they end up side by side and pointing alike, the foragers from one side end up going into the other.

02 · WHAT COMES AND WHAT DOES NOT

The whole box, minus the frames

You get the floor with its open mesh, the body, the reversible roof — turned over for ventilation in transport —, the reinforcing plastic profiles, the divider and the two entrances.

What you buy separately are the Dadant US frames, 48 × 30 cm. And if you want to feed without opening, the nucleus feeder from the same maker sits on top with no adaptation.

03 · THE POLYSTYRENE

It really insulates, and that is why it starts earlier

Extra-hardened EPS at over 100 kg/m³ does not rot, does not take up moisture and stands handling without crumbling. Paradise Honey developed it in Finland, where the material has to cope with anything from -35 °C to summers above 30.

In a nucleus, insulation counts for more than in a full hive: there is little population for a relatively large volume, so the colony spends less holding its temperature and puts that energy into growing.

04 · MAINTENANCE

Paint yes; flame, never

EPS asks for a coat of UV-filtering water-based paint on the outside: without it the sun cracks it and the box ages before its time. We use paint formulated for timber and polystyrene.

And the warning that has to be said out loud: polystyrene is not flamed. What you would solve on a wooden box with a blowtorch is done here with steam or a disinfectant solution — a flame melts it in seconds.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is the complete nucleus, except the frames: