Swn58 Beekeeping forum 2009

The Paradise kit is generally overlooked in the UK, probably back from when it was first available here. There was so much resistance to "THE LIP", but this is now seen as a plus to prevent water ingress and provided stability.
My hives are standing the test of time so far at 12 years old, plus time timber stuff is starting to get cut up for firewood and replace with poly.
Most nucs have a lip and even Abelo are reinventing their hives to include this, the paradise does offer a good degree of compatibility. I look at this a little more commercially that I want a system to work with.
I don't want to chop and change but to standardise, in that respect the paradise is a good option with standard hive parts that work together even when they have seen some updates.
The Paradise honey hives are using by the millions worldwide and as a system of working is hugely successful and popular.

Super poly bait hives

David Evans “The Apiarist”

“Shortly after they were introduced I purchased two of the poly National hives sold by Modern Beekeeping. These are well made but, in my view after using them for a few months, poorly designed. The poly is dense and strong, they have clever plastic frame runners and they are easy to assemble. I’ve kept bees in them for a couple of seasons and they did fine. However – for me – the negatives of these hives far outweigh the positives. They have handles on all four faces of the boxes which, together with the manufacturers name, means painting them takes ages. Much more significantly, the boxes can only accommodate 10 frames and are too narrow. The frame lugs of a standard National frame are tight against the sidewalls making it almost impossible (once there’s a bit of propolis added to the mix) to slide the frames across the hive during inspections.

The dreaded overhang
To make matters worse, the boxes have an “overhang” where they join. Although this presumably helps prevent water ingress it also makes stacking supers on top of brood boxes packed with bees a recipe for death and destruction. It’s not possible to offer the box ‘on the squint’ and then rotate it into place. Furthermore, the overhang prevents you even seeing the bees you’re about to slaughter. Of course, the overhang also means the kit isn’t easily mixed with standard wooden or Sweinty poly boxes. I did build a wooden shim that meant the supers could be used, but the beespace was messed up. At about £110 for a complete hive and a couple of supers these hives appeared reasonable value … but they actually represent possibly my biggest outlay on unsuitable kit ever 🙁The dreaded overhang “

The overhang problem is easily overcome:

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