Swienty Brood Box Review, Honest Look at This Popular Poly Hive
In this video Laurence Edwards of Black Mountain Honey provides a hands‑on review of the Suyenti (also referred to as Swienty) polystyrene brood box. He walks through the flat‑pack assembly, explains how the boxes are dovetailed and can be glued, and shows the required runner pieces for a bottom‑board configuration. Edwards highlights the main advantages – very low cost, long lifespan (≈30 years in the hive, then reusable as house insulation), excellent thermal insulation and superior winter performance compared with wood. He also details the key drawbacks: the box arrives flat‑packed, requires painting, lacks a bottom rebate causing frames to stick together, holds only ten frames leaving a gap, and has a scalloped edge that some beekeepers report as being chewed by bees. Practical work‑arounds are demonstrated, such as using dummy frames or plywood to fill the gap, spray‑painting, applying glue to the edge, and adding extra runners. Edwards compares Suyenti with other poly manufacturers (Abello, Maismore) and notes that while the Suyenti box is the cheapest (30‑40 % lower than competitors), it is not perfect; he would switch if a better‑priced, fully featured box became available. The video concludes with a broader reflection on the impossibility of a “perfect hive,” emphasizing cost‑effectiveness and personal beekeeping philosophy, and invites viewers to contact him via social media for further questions.
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Hi, I'm Laurence Edwards from Black Mountain Honey, and today I'm going to be showing you the Suyenti brood box. So I use a lot of these brood boxes. This is how they come once they're fully assembled. It's a polystyrene box, and as we know, we don't like plastic at Black Mountain Honey, but these last a very, very long time. So you're probably going to get 30 years out of one of these boxes. They're excellent insulation for the bees, and I already have a bit of a plan of action as what I'm going to do after 30 years. So when I retire, I'm going to chop all these boxes up, and I'm going to use them to insulate my house. So they'll be probably stuck in there for another 50 years. So it's definitely not a single-use plastic. It's got probably a lifespan of 30 years with the bees, and then it's got another use after that. It's also actually fully recyclable, so you can grind up the polystyrene and put it to other uses in insulation products. I've gone through a lot of different hive types, so I've tried a number of the kind of major manufacturers of poly, and I've settled on this. And the reason I've settled on it is because it's cheapest. That's the only real reason that I've gone for it. I don't find a huge amount of difference between any of the polystyrene manufacturers. I've tried Abello, I've tried Suyenti, I've tried Maismore. I like the BS Honeybees Nucs, they're very good. But like I say, I haven't found a perfect brood box yet, and that means I just go for the cheapest one I possibly can. So I'm going to do a bit of a review of this box here today. I'll show you how to assemble one, talk you through some of the kind of pros and cons of using it. So one of the big cons of using the Swensen box is definitely the fact that it comes as a flat pack unit. So it comes like that. Now, for 99% of beekeepers, that is definitely a con. For me, it's a pro because when I look to import these in from Denmark, I get lumped with the shipping costs. Now, that is one of them flat packed, and that is one of them made up. Now if you're buying one, it's not too bad. It's probably half the size. If you're buying 100 of them, it's the difference between 4 pallets coming in from the EU and 8 pallets coming in from the EU, and they're charging £100 a pallet at the moment. So it makes a real big difference. So it's a pro and a con at the same time, but it really doesn't take that long to put together. So they're all fully dovetailed, and it's just a case of clipping them together. Now I went for ages with these just clicking them together, um, and using them, and they've been fine. And then I realized that you can glue them together. So if you use like a Gorilla Glue or a polyurethane glue and whack it in the edges there and then push them together, it actually completely bonds the poly. So I've been doing that for the last 2 years, and then I've come to kind of realize that I don't really need to. Like, why make it more complicated? The ones that I've got that I've pushed I've just pushed together, that are still pushed together. So as with everything, I try and keep it as simple as I possibly can, and that's it. That is the box put together. It just push fit and it's done. So nice and simple. Now what you need to add if you're going to run this as a bottom B space is you need to add the runners. So these are just kind of like an L-section piece of plastic and they just clip in like that. That's one done. And that is the other one done. And what that means is that when you take out one of your frames and you put it in— you'll get a close-up— is that you get a bit of a gap. Try that again. Is that you actually get a gap there so the bees can kind of work underneath it and they don't propolise it down. So what do I like about the Swancy boxes then? I like the fact that they're cheap. That's definitely the number one factor. You can buy these from Seawind Jones, very good supplier of these. Simon the Beekeeper also stock them, and you can get them through the Bee Farmers Association direct from Swancy as well. What I like about them, yeah, they're cheap, they're easy to use, and that's about it really. Like, they don't have any kind of amazing features that any of the other boxes don't have. It's a nice simple brood box for bees. There are a few things I don't like about it, and a couple of real fundamental ones. So the big one is at the bottom of the box, there's no rebate. Now, if this was like a perfect copy of a wooden national, you should have a rebate across there, which means that when you put another box like this on top of that box, The frames that sit above it have a bee space there. Now what that means is that the bees can kind of move over the frames here freely and they don't stick them together. So what I found with these boxes is when I was running double brood before, I'd come to a box like that, I'd get my hive tool in, I'd lever it up, I'd pull that up, and all the frames would be stuck to the bottom. That's really, really annoying. So a number of the other poly manufacturers have solved this now, Abello being one of them. So Abello have really got a very good box at the moment, and that has the rebate at the bottom, so you don't have the issues with that. So if you're listening, Sweenteat, sort that one out because that is the number one flaw with your box. Okay, other issues with the box is obviously it comes like that, it's not painted, so So you need to paint that. You can paint it with masonry paint, works fine. I was doing that for years, it's quite slow. So I bought an airless spray system and I didn't get on with that either for some reason. I know other people do. You can use a gloss paint on it, like an exterior-grade gloss paint, that works really well. But again, you're limited to a brush. So what I actually use now is I use spray paint. Um, any color will do, but I go for a bit of a camouflage theme. If you've seen some of my hives before, And I use 2 cans and I'm all over it, and I can do one of them in about 20 seconds. So the 2 big cons are it's flat pack, it needs painting, and the rebate at the bottom. So that's 3, isn't it? So apart from that, I really like the boxes. Like, they're absolutely solid, they take a lot of abuse, they're very insulating. So they're 100 grams per liter in terms of actual mass, which is very good for the bees. They overwinter well in them, and that is the big reason why I don't use wooden hives. I found that they overwinter well, so the success rate of actually getting through winter is significantly better than in wood. Some people don't find that, so everyone has their own opinion on it. I find they use less stores in winter, which is handy when you've got a lot of hives. A big one is that they come through winter a lot stronger than the wooden ones. They It can be like 2 or 3 weeks ahead, and around here, if you're not hitting the correct hive strength for the colonies, kind of around 1st of May, you miss out on the flows. So where I've had the wooden hives and they're lagging a little bit behind, the ones in the poly are really kind of firing on all cylinders. What else to say about the Sguenti hive, right? So another key feature— not really a feature, another negative— is they only take 10 frames. Now that's really annoying because you get this awkward gap here. So what I've ended up doing with this gap is I either put a bit of plywood in there, just kind of glue and screw it to the side, that fixes it, or I use a DN1 dummy frame. So I'll make a normal frame like that, but instead of having the Hoffman edges for the self-spacing, it doesn't have them at all, so it's straight. And that fits perfectly. And then what that also gives you is I put a little screw in the top, and then it means you can kind of come to your hive, it's absolutely jam-packed, you take out the dummy frame with the screw, put it to one side. I'm not going to show you. I'll move them. So I'll do my inspections, I'll go 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on. Until they're all moved across there. And then I'll replace the dummy frame in that end, and that works really well. Other colonies, I've just kind of left them to it, and they tend to fill that space with brace comb. I don't really move that frame much, but that's, that's a very lazy way around it. You can miss queen cells, which isn't good. So overall, if I had to choose between my Sirenti boxes and either an Abello box or a Maysmore box or another box, I'll probably go for any one of them apart from Sirenti. It's my least favorite box, and it's the box that I use all the time. And it comes down to cost. That's the only reason I use them. So when you're buying in bulk, you can kind of negotiate bigger deals. But I find— we won't go into kind of individual prices, but they tend to be 30 or 40% cheaper than the rest of their competition, which just makes a huge difference. The other thing is that I've not found a perfect box. You know, if I was to go to Abelo, who I think are doing a really good job in terms of what they're putting out with poly, and they'd come with a perfectly complete and finished box and there was nothing I didn't like about it, then I think I'd probably sacrifice the 30 or 40% extra cost and just go with them. But there isn't a perfect box and there isn't a perfect hive, and you just have to adapt and kind of use what you've got. And that's what I've done here. I mean, I use this box and I adapt it with the rebate. Yeah, okay, it's annoying, but I manage it. I know that when I come and lift the box up to height, the frames are probably going to be stuck underneath, so I just get the hive tool in a little bit further and make sure that doesn't happen. Moving over to 14 by 12 will now eliminate that in the, the brood area, which is good because I'll have a floor that will sit on the floor, and then I use a wire-framed queen excluder on top. So in the brood area, I'm not actually going to have any frames upon frames, so there'll be no sticking. I might get a bit of it in the supers, but I don't really care in the supers. I'm not going to damage any queens, I'm not going to damage any brood. It might get a bit sticky, but I'll just kind of get in there and sort it out. So that's about it. The one last thing to say is there is another real bad flaw on this hive that a number of other people have had experience of. Now, I have to say, I've not experienced it once, but I think it's worthwhile for the sake of this review letting you know about it. Now, if you can see on this box here, there's a curve. It's like a scalloped edge. Now, people have had experiences of that being chewed by the bees, and if you start to get that chewed by the bees, you're in a bit of trouble really, because as soon as they start to see the light, they'll chew it a little bit, the light will come in, and then they'll chew it more. And I've seen pictures where this is really damaged along there. Um, there's a long backstory in terms of why that edge is that shape, and it's to do with the fact that they've designed a new roof to kind of fit on there perfectly. And they quickly withdrew the roof because it didn't work. So they're back to the old style roofs now, which work a lot better. Um, but the issue, if you do have that chewing along there, it can be a real issue. But what I found, and I was just checking this the other day, is if you take out one of the runners and you put the runner there, it fits perfectly. Like, absolutely perfectly, apart from the fact that there's probably about a 2mm gap there. But if it's chewed away, you can just push it down Bit of Gorilla Glue, put that on, and then you've kind of got a perfect shield against them glue— against them biting away any more of it. So I quite like that idea. It means you have to buy a couple more runners, but they're only cheap. Um, but I haven't experienced that. It's only what I've heard and what I've seen on, on the internet. People love to moan. I love to moan, and we all want this perfect tyre. What I've kind of come to Understand now is that there isn't a perfect hive. What's someone's perfect hive and someone's perfect brood box, somebody else doesn't want that. Perfect example is an argument I saw on one of the forums the other day about landing boards and people saying, well, don't put landing boards on your hives because it means that when you come to move, you've got this landing board here and you can't get as many in the trailer. I agree with that. From my point of view, I don't like landing boards. I don't think they need them. I use underfloor entrances myself. Other people, absolute complete opposite, and they want landing boards on their hives. They might keep 5, 10, 20 hives. They've never moved them round. They find that when the bees come flying back into the hive, if they're weak or weary, they fall onto the landing board and they crawl back up into the hive, as opposed to falling onto the floor and getting lost or chilled or whatever. So there you go. Even just for that example, you can't have a perfect hive, um, or a perfect brood box. So you just have to make do with what you've got. For me, it comes down to cost. I don't like spending money unnecessarily, so I go with the cheapest box. But the Suyensi box could do with a number of modifications and changes, so I look forward to them kind of producing a new mould. Hopefully. We've waited years for it and it's not happened, so I'm not holding my breath. I think that's about it. So if you've got any more questions about the Sorrenti hives, give me a shout. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram. And that's it. I'll see you next time. Thank you.
