Although these boxes are very similar to the BeeMax model, these boxes are cast in one piece and far, far tougher than the BeeMax ones.  They resemble the Swienty and other European versions.  I had approached Swienty some time back and we investigated the potential of importing them, but the currency went against us and the shipping was also prohibitive.

I have discovered that BeeMax sucks.  I put it this way for the search engine spiders.  Whenever I want to see who hates XYZ, I Google "XYZ sucks".  So there it is.  BeeMax sucks.  Google it.  It may take a while for the spider to find this page and index it, though.

That is Joe standing on a box.  I actually took a shot with his feet right tight together with all 270 pounds in the middle, but somehow Android or Dropbox ate that picture  somewhere between my phone and the desktop -- along with shots of some really nice-looking brood in the hives.  I don't know where they went.  I think I must have deleted them off the phone too quickly.  It takes a few moments for the dropbox to sync.   Joe  told me not to put this picture on the web, but he did pose, so please don't mention that you saw it here.

Yes, that is my home in the background.  I live, it seems, in an art gallery.  There is art everywhere, and stained glass on the windows, too, if I go away too long.

Anyhow, the boxes look good and if anyone wants some of these boxes, they are competitively priced.  Write me if you want some and I'll see what I can do.  The price is somewhere around $15 CAD.   You are buying pretty much at cost, with a dollar being included to (eventually) cover the $15,000 mold cost.

How do they stack up against wooden boxes for cost?  I don't know what a wood box costs these days, but I know that whatever it is, assembly and nails and glue add about two dollars. If you like frame rests, they cost money and take time, too, but come already installed in these boxes.

Also, wooden hives need to be wrapped for winter.  These do not, so there are big savings in time and money there, too.  I'd say that in the long run, these are much less expensive to run and may result in better bees, too.

You can paint these or leave them bare.  If left unpainted, after five or ten years, the surface gets dull and powders a bit.  All that is required is cheap exterior latex paint.  I used expensive oil paint with a primer and I don't think it worked as well as one coat of latex would have.

With these boxes, there is no assembly to do, and the frame rests are cast integrally.  Just paint -- or not, and drop in your frames.  I'd drill a 1" hole 2" up from the bottom for flight and ventilation, but that is my personal hang-up.  No more wrapping for winter. 

I would advise putting the bees into these boxes several months before the end of the season, though, and not just before winter since the bees need time to adapt.  Bees occupy the space and organise stores differently in these hives compared to wood..

The density of this EPS is higher than any competitive product, I am told.  Apparently when Meijers got the first one off the mold, they went out and threw it around the parking lot to see how tough it is.  It got a few bruises, but nothing more.