Timber for beehives

[dickm]

There was a great thread here a while back on the different sorts of beehives; daughter has decided she wants to move from helping out with someone else's hives to owning her own, so it's been obligatory reading. But have one question; cedar seems to be the favoured wood, but it's not that easy to get up here and what is available feels very soft. Have got a chance of some slabs of Leylandii - anyone know if this might be useable, and how long it might last untreated?
Can also get larch. Would that be better?

 

[SurreyHills]

Western red cedar is becoming more common to source in the UK. Ask your local sawmill as they can normally get hold of it. The advantage of WRC is that it is light (1/2 weight of one), durable (doesn't need finishing) and light. So it is worth trying to get hold of it, price wise about the same as decent softwood.

If you make up the hives you should stick to standard dimensions, e.g. British standard national being the most common. This will enable your daughter to use other equipment with her home built stuff.

If you can't get hold of WRC then larch is probably the next best alternative.
Andy

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Leylandii doesn't last untreated.

 

[blackrodd]

Western red cedar is becoming more common to source in the UK. Ask your local sawmill as they can normally get hold of it. The advantage of WRC is that it is light (1/2 weight of one), durable (doesn't need finishing) and light. So it is worth trying to get hold of it, price wise about the same as decent softwood.

If you make up the hives you should stick to standard dimensions, e.g. British standard national being the most common. This will enable your daughter to use other equipment with her home built stuff.

If you can't get hold of WRC then larch is probably the next best alternative.
Andy

As above. western red is the best wood to use. very soft and dovetails, by hand, can be a little tricky as the chisel can compress the shoulders'
i have seen, on ebay, a hive maker using redwood, how to protect the hive against the elements, i'm not sure what would be "safe". regards Rodders

 

[Myfordman]

When a 'friend' thought that I might have too much time on my hands (Ha!) they started suggesting that I might like to make them a hive. When I started looking around at designs etc I found self assembly kits were available for less than I could buy the wood for.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What's the design of the hives? If they're WBC (which is unlikely) the constraints aren't the same, their being double skinned.

 

[deema]

May I recommend that you buy or make a standard national give. Anything else will make it very difficult to get a nuclei on the right size of frames.

If you make the hive now, you can paint it and then leave it outside. By the time bees are availabke next year, normally June, any residual smell will have gone. The bees will be very happy. It's very important that the hive us gap free and no drafts can get in. The bees will block up the gaps, if they are small, but you need to give the nuclei the best chance to establish.

The timber must be un treated, and I would not use any secondhand timber, you never know what it may been treated with.

 

[marcros]

You can download plans free from the Scottish beekeepers association website.

You used to be able to use the clear cupronickel for treating redwood. I am not sure that the new formula has been tested though.

Personally I think that polystyrene hives are better than wood. I am switching mine over to these. As above, check prices before you embark on the project, I have also found them cheaper to buy than I can buy the cedar for. Don't waste your time making frames- certainly easier and cheaper to buy from a manufacture that is making them by the thousand.

 

[dickm]

Thanks guys, very helpful comments. I'd assumed she'd want a National (though according to one source, Smiths are the ones for Scotland!) but she thinks the ones she's currently involved with are Langstroths. Langstroth was the one design I hadn't downloaded from the Scottish Beekeepers site Aesthetically, the WBCs are really nice, but as the hive will be moved around, not practical.

Can see the advantages of lightness and durability for WRC, but having worked with quite a bit of it recently, have been finding it just too soft and easily damaged. Dovetailing looks like it would be a nightmare - has anyone tried using it with a router dovetail template?

Can also see the advantages of polystyrene, but she's not keen, so timber it will probably be. Now, is there time to plank up the larches felled earlier this year????

 

[Spindle]

Hi Dick

Larch is one of the most 'rot resistant' softwoods you can get and there's plenty of it up here - I'd go for that.

I have larch fence posts, (stabs), that have been in the ground for 15+ years.

Regards Mick

 

[SurreyHills]

If you treat WRC with BLO it will make it a bit more resistant to knocks. None of the plans I know of call for dovetails. For Nationals use the plans on Scottish website, the hives call for battens which are located into rebates cut into the sides of the hive. All of my hives are Nationals and were made mainly with a router.

Langstroths are the most common US hive type, very simple construction and popular in the UK with commercial beekeepers. However they are big boxes and if your daughter is OK lifting 30kg then she might get on with them. Smiths no longer common, bear this in mind if your daughter needs to source other components to make up the hives, eg. Roofs, queen excluders and as indicated earlier frames. Because the different hive types are different sizes other components are not interchangeable, she should standardize on one hive type. Get her to ask around her local beekeeping association to see what everyone else uses.
Andy

 

[whiskywill]

I used to make my own hives but now find that it is cheaper to buy from http://www.caddon-hives.co.uk/National- ... -Bee-Hive/ than to buy the cedar.

 

[dickm]

Further incredibly useful information - this forum at its best.
Those ready-made hives really look the business, and cheaper than one of the kits which is advertised, so are probably a better answer than building one. Though discovered there is almost enough larch left over from our house extension to make a National. Can't check with daughter at the moment, as she is off down south to give a talk at a conference, but it sounds like there is some misunderstanding over Langstroths. She needs the smallest standard size.

 

[SteveF]

how far down south?
i have some wrc if u need some