Cedar?

[riverman]

Has anyone got experience in using cedar to build hives or supers?

[Sundance]

I do not have any experience using cedar but........

If you can afford it, or have access to an inexpensive supply, it is a very good wood for hive bodies in that it resists rot.

Cypress is another excellent wood for hive bodies.

[ScadsOBees]

I used some cedar tongue and groove siding (5/8" thick) to build some boxes, and it worked great and was cheap (free!!), but the drawback is that it is quite soft, so dents and chips easy when manipulating. I think part of that is because it is so dry.

[LMN]

Eastern Red Cedar resists decay as long as it is heartwood, red and no white or sap wood. The white will last no longer than pine unpainted.Cedar will be drier when sawed out of the log then about any other wood. A cedar heartwood post will last about 25 years in the ground, Locust about 40 years and Osage Orange or Hedge Apple will out last the hole. I plan on making some cedar hives out of cedar I sawed on my Wood Mizer Band Mill this Summer.

[thebeeguy]

Wood doesn't rot until it reaches a certain moisture content which is somewhere above 20%. If a hive sits directly on the ground, a rot resistant wood will last longer than a non rot resistant wood. If your hive is 15" off the ground, any wood will last 50 or more years. If your hives are somewhere between 0 and 15 inches off the ground and you put a vapor barrier on the ground and keep weeds trimmed, and you paint your hives, your pine or poplar hives will still last 50 years or more.
www.thelumberguy.blogspot.com (http://www.thelumberguy.blogspot.com)

[Michael Bush]

I've built them out of scrap cedar. I wouldn't buy it to build boxes because it's too expensive. But it works fine.