Thermosolar Hive Arrives

I have been talking about the Thermosolar Hive for over a year now (it claims to kill 100% of varroa using a thermosolar, chemical-free treatment).  It has now successfully completed a crowd fundraising process and they have very kindly given me two which I am excited to use and write about.  I have no connection to the Thermosolar Hive team and will only give a truthful and independent review and feedback on this hive.

First Reaction

From the moment I took away the packaging and opened the hive I can honestly say you could feel the quality and it had some great beekeeping features.  It’s weighty, the parts fit together well, there are handles on the side of each box to help lifting, the inside of the brood and super boxes is made of metal to stop pathogens and there are entrances on each super to give the bees direct access.

Here is me giving an overview of the hive before I put the bees in it.

The Key Components

I wish I had closed the garage door before taking these photos!  Please ignore the mess and focus on the beauty.

From the bottom up …

The building barrier (below) prevents bees building comb down into the space of the bottom board.

You can also see the white insulation frame in the photo below to help dissipate the heat coming through the window.

The roof is upside down, below, so that you can see more of the detail.

Below is the thermometer that comes with the hive.  There are two of these per hive.  The cable and sensor are waterproof but not the display unit.  This begs another question for Jan and Roman.

Supers and the brood box have additional entrances for the bees.  I need to find out more about how to use these effectively.  Any advice from readers?

Eliminating Varroa

Their literature that comes with the hive is very confident that it will kill 100% of the varroa.  The science is good (varroa die above 40C, bees tolerate the temperature range).  But will it work in practice – that is what we need to know.

Thermosolar Hive Guide

They also supply a handy guide on how to the use the hive: Thermosolar Hive Guide (this is a PDF that downloads).

All I need to do now is get some bees in them.  I am going to transfer the hive frames from the south facing hives in the allotment.  Read My Apiary for more info.

My Questions For Thermosolar Hive Team

Please comment if you have more questions.

1. Has the peer-reviewed, University paper on the Thermosolar hive been published?  Please can you email me a link?
2. I will be using the anti-swarm method promoted on your website.  Your Thermosolar guide refers to literature on this method, please could you email me a link or attachment?
3. As I am using anti-swarm method I will be placing a super below the brood box.  Does the lower temperature sensor go into the bottom of the super box or bottom of the brood box?
4. None of the supers had Thermosolar windows.  Will this be OK when I am doing Thermosolar treatment?
5. Do they have a recommended solution for waterproofing the thermometer display unit or is it best to just use the thermometer on the day of the Thermosolar treatment?
6. Does he have any recommended reading on using the extra entrances into the brood box and supers?
7. Why is there a rear entrance in the floor component that the bees could enter and exit?  Is it an to aid a swarm control method?
8. The outer dimensions of the hive are not the same as the British national dimensions.  The Thermosolar hive has smaller external dimensions that the national.  My queen excluder will work fine with a bit of overlap on the outside? However, my QE with rhombus bee escape and jumbo feeder does not fit. Do you have products or recommendation for clearing supers and feeding?
9. Do you have any preference of non-caustic cleaner for the metal part of the roof?

Read More

• I have created a Thermosolar Hive Ultimate Page which includes all key comments, photos, videos and links