Beehive Smart Bee Box

01 · HOW THE HONEY COMES OUT

A tap, a tube and a jug

The smart super carries its own frames which, when actuated, open a channel down which the honey runs to the tap. You connect the tube, fill the jug, and there is no opening the hive and no uncapping.

It arrives complete: brood chamber, smart super with its frames, floor, entrance reducer, queen excluder, strap, and the jug with its tube.

02 · WHAT TO CHECK FIRST

Capping, and honey that will flow

Honey is capped once the bees have dried it. Open the tap before that and what comes out carries more water than it should — above 18-20 % it ferments, and there is no going back. The super has side windows for exactly this check.

And a second limit worth saying plainly: honey that crystallises in the comb will not come out of a tap. With oilseed rape or sunflower this is not the right system, however well the mechanism works.

03 · THE FORMAT IS ITS OWN

It does not adapt to your frames

The super and its frames are a closed system: you cannot fit your own frames and you cannot convert it to another format. It is built to integrate with Paradise Honey hives.

Anyone working Layens, or hoping to reuse existing frames, should factor that in before buying: what you buy here is the whole system.

04 · THE PAINT

On the outside, and not just any

Polystyrene does not rot or take up moisture, but the sun does attack it: a coat of paint is not cosmetic, it is what makes the hive last decades. Use exterior water-based or polyurethane paint, preferably with UV protection.

What you cannot use is enamel or anything with solvent: they attack polystyrene. And paint only the outside — leave the inside bare, because the bees end up coating it with propolis anyway.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is the same direct-extraction principle as other tap systems on the market. What differs is the format: here it goes with Paradise Honey hives.