Cypress vs White Cedar

[ptwat]

I looked for a thread on this so if I missed it please excuse me. I was thinking of building hive bodies and have read about cypress and white cedar. Not sure about the cost around Atl, Ga for either at this point but just wanted to get opinions about which might be better. The natural question is why not pine but I was wanting to do something a little more weather resistant, and frankly, a little more different so I could just let them weather.
Thoughts?

[bluegrass]

If you want weather resistant the cypress is better, it is also prettier and smells good. I wish I had access to reasonably priced cypress.

[Ted n Ms]

I bought six cypress logs for sixty dollars a ton. $216 dollars and had it band sawed for 160.00 per thousand. It sawed out 1200 bd. ft.= 190.00 total of 416.00 dollars. I had it sawed in ten and seven inch boards. Thats roughly 34.5 per board ft. A 1x10 x12 is about 3.45 or 1.73 per hive body. I know i'll have some waste but it's still pretty good.

[EvansCedarBeehives]

i say go for Cedar.
www.EvansCedarBeehives.com

[Birdman]

cypress is in the ceder family.

[ptwat]

i say go for Cedar.
www.EvansCedarBeehives.com

Actually your website is what made me think of the question. I had been looking for a source of cypress and looking through you site made me rethink. Like I said above, I do not have a source for either type of wood yet. I am wondering besides weathering characteristics are there other things that make either wood a better choice. I suppose weight is another thing to think about. If they are in the same family as Birdman says they are probably about the same weight I am guessing.

[baldwinbees]

find a lumber mill.If you are a little handy you can get it for around $1 a linear[running] ft finished on 2 sides,or less if you have a planer.lumber yards mark it up to over double

[windfall]

When you start talking about durability, the thing to remember is that it is only the heartwood of either species that is rot resistant. A board that is half sapwood is really no better than any other softwood for longevity.
The heartwood of either on the other hand, can be substantially better....but all heartwood boards demand a premium coming as they do from larger logs.

I would think in your area cypress would be much more readily available than white cedar. The white cedar is far far more dimensionally stable than the cypress. But I believe cedar is a bit softer lighter and weaker as well.

I love white cedar and just did all the new hives in them. Pretty excited to put in some bees.

[bluegrass]

cypress is in the ceder family.

Yes, but not all trees that are called cedar are Many are in the Juniper family and are non-toxic where as true cedars are toxic.

To clarify: Eastern red and white cedars are actually Junipers and are non-toxic to people and animals. Leyland Cypress and Threadbranch cypress are both toxic to animals as is western red cedar. I don't know about toxicity to bees, but I do know that the toxic species if used in confined spaces like chicken coops can kill the chickens. I think bald cypress is non-toxic and I think that is what most often gets used as hivewood.

[GWDawg1]

I bought six cypress logs for sixty dollars a ton. $216 dollars and had it band sawed for 160.00 per thousand. It sawed out 1200 bd. ft.= 190.00 total of 416.00 dollars. I had it sawed in ten and seven inch boards. Thats roughly 34.5 per board ft. A 1x10 x12 is about 3.45 or 1.73 per hive body. I know i'll have some waste but it's still pretty good.

Ted, did you have it kiln dried? I have found the air dried stuff just isn't quite up to par with the kiln dried.