We placed our split in this hive and while we thought it was weak going into the winter, the bees came out better than the wooden hives in the yard. The insulating properties of the polystyrene allowed the bees to keep a larger brood area through the winter as evidenced by the largest brood area of all our other hives and they were no slouches either. The latches are really nice to lock down for the winter and not have to strap it down. Easy to pull apart as the bees don't propolis this as much as wood it seems. not crazy about the inner cover but getting the top feeder will fix that for me. Wish PB sold that.
With the price of wood these days, this hive is the next one you should get. Great hive.
