type of wood for brood chamber

[dulley]

I have started making my own hive woodware. I can get a good buy on s4 redwood lumber. Will the redwood scent and natural resins bother ot effect the bees? Redwood is very rot and insect resistant and should not need to be painted.

Jim

[Walliebee]

Will the redwood scent and natural resins bother ot effect the bees?
Jim

It's not a problem. Though I've never used redwood, I've used or seen hives made from red cedar, oak, poplar, yellow pine, cypress, and of course white pine.

Some have tried the red cedar in an attempt to control wax moth, though I don't think they had positive results, but it does smell nice for a few years.

Doesn't redwood have a tendency to split? May be best to drill holes and use screws.

[dulley]

Thanks for the input. I am going to use a router and make dovetail joints in the boxes. I will probably just use Gorilla glue urethane glue to assemble them.

[Michael Bush]

I've made them out of scrap redwood, cedar, pine (yellow and white), birch, and even plywood. They all worked fine. But I don't bother to BUY all of those. Pine is cheap and light and works well.