In this instructional video, Laurence Edwards of Black Mountain Honey explains why the thin roof of Paynes Poly nuc hives leads to dangerous condensation on bees during winter. He demonstrates moisture pooling on the bees' wings, describes how the roof’s lack of insulation makes its top surface the coldest point where moisture condenses, and argues that this dampness harms bee health. Edwards proposes a simple, low‑cost fix: place a sheet of insulation board (e.g., Kingspan or any cheap off‑cut) on top of the nuc roof, strap it down, and seal it to eliminate air gaps. By making the roof’s top the warmest surface, condensation shifts to a different wall, keeping the cluster dry. He gives practical installation tips—preventing bowing, using straps or a brick for weight, ensuring a tight seal—and recommends fitting an insulation board on every Paynes Poly nuc for winter. The video ends with a brief call to subscribe.
Chapters
In this video, I'm going to show you why I think it's really important to put insulation on the top of your Paynes Poly Nucs. Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey. Welcome to another episode of No Nonsense Beekeeping. You like the really quick beekeeping hacks. The Paynes Poly Nuc, I think the roof is too thin. I have issues with it every year, and I recommend putting a sheet of Kingspan or any cheap insulation board that you can get, Preferably from a skip, secondhand, on top of here to reduce the condensation forming on the bees. I'm going to open this colony up now. I'm going to show you the condensation forming on that board, and then we'll talk to you about why putting that sheet on top should limit the condensation forming. So here we go. You can see the moisture sitting on the bees there. It's really, really bad. You can see as they're moving around, they're carrying water with It's just not healthy for the bees. Bees do not like to be damp over winter, especially when it gets cold. If they get cold and damp, they struggle on that. I'm going to zoom in a little bit there. Can you see the bee's wings covered in water? I believe that is a direct result of the insulation in that roof not being thick enough, which means that the coldest place in that roof is on top of that crown board. In this position here. So the bees are generating warmth, they're generating moisture, and then it needs to condense somewhere in the hive. And because this roof is so thin, that is the coldest place. It's the most exposed place, which means that you're getting water pooling on the underside of this sheet. And then you can see it on the bees' wings there. That water is underneath that board, and that is not good for colonies clustering up over winter. Luckily, It's the easiest fix in the world. All you need to go and do is go and find a building site, go and find a skip, get yourself a nice offcut of insulation board, preferably as flat as you can possibly get it. You want to push it down like that. I'm going to strap this one back up. That is the hack complete. It's as simple as that. And all that's going to do is it's going to mean that this top surface here is no longer the coldest surface. It's no longer the least insulated surface. It becomes the most insulated surface. So all of that condensation is still going to exist in the hive inside that box, and it's going to go and choose another wall to condense on. It's going to choose that wall by choosing the coldest wall. So what you're trying to do is make that top above the cluster the warmest by putting that insulation on, and it should stop that condensation forming on top of that cluster. It's definitely not good for the bees. So when you put it on, do strap it down. You don't want it bowing up like that, and if you're getting it cheap, It will bow, or if you're leaving it outside, it will bow. A brick will hold it down as well, but a strap really bends it back down into position. And having it completely sealed so no air gap in between means you're going to get better insulation. And that's it, that's the video complete. I'm not going to dwell on it. I think if you've got Payne's Polynooks, you should get an insulation board like this on each and every one and keep it that way over winter. So I hope you enjoyed the video. As always, please hit the subscribe button, please hit the bell so you're notified of every video. I'll see you next time. Bye.
