I'm getting ready to build my first top bar hives and was wondering what are the best materials to use for the walls, floor and ends and why. I have 3 books on top bar hives and only one suggests pine, cedar or redwood but gives no reasons for that choice.
My opinion is that the best wood to use is free wood. If you are buying wood, these days redwood is unlikely to be "heartwood", and so has no significant longevity value. The same may apply to cedar, depending on your source. Pine is readily available, and generally the most affordable.
Reviving this old thread because I have the same question
I've got "free wood". Free as in I see a tree, get it to lay down, run it thru my sawmill in 10 foot lengths and up to 20" widths.. Right now I've mostly sweetgum, pine, oak, red maple and some eastern red cedar in approximately 3/4" to 4" thickness, various widths (~8" to 20") dried. Plus I've all the tools to process it further, saws, planer etc.
Based on my readings so far I was thinking of using the cedar. But can the cedar be a problem for the bees?
Are there an "ideal" woods that I'm liable to find in north Mississippi? I've got about 400 acres of timber and a lot of it is mixed hardwood so IF Hickory (for instance) would hlep the bees double honey flow I could probably do it. Don't have any cypress
Yes I have seen Michael Bush's site and I have his books. I'm using Magnum's master template dimensions without the landing boards and handles and Bush's top entrance, length, top bars and migratory cover. It should be a fun project for me next week. Also I will get a bit artistic and burn some pictures on the fronts.
Daniel
I have five hives using Mangum's design, and it has worked out great! I have three hives made from scrap plywood, and two hives made from pine. I see no difference between the two hives at all, expect the plywood might be stronger. Welcome to bee source.
Pretty mush whatever. I have made one out of old pallets. As long as you weather treat the outside (mixute of raw linseed oil and beeswax) you should be ok. If you are worried about the wood containing something that "might" affect the bees then coat the inside of the hive (though NOT the top bars) with a shellac.
newbury-cedar won't be a problem for your bees. Several beeks have posted of finding feral hives in old hollow cedar trees. Pine in a 1" thickness (actual not nominal) would give better insulation than the store bought hives and last a long time if painted or stained with a good quality product.
newbury-cedar won't be a problem for your bees. Several beeks have posted of finding feral hives in old hollow cedar trees. Pine in a 1" thickness (actual not nominal) would give better insulation than the store bought hives and last a long time if painted or stained with a good quality product.
I used some un-standard thickness wood and untill I got my first pattern hive done I ruined a few peices of wood. I guess my math sucked. I only point this out so that if you are using printed plans you do have to make adjustments if you want proper bee space. Even harder if you are mixing standard and nonstandard wood. My point is to make one first and check that you have it correct and use the correct one for you mass producing cuts.
Just my opinion
gww
Pick the wood that you like. I used pine. It's only the first year and it's holding up well.
You stated that you have the skills and tools to build what you want. I watched a u-tube
at wranglerstar.com , I made a few changes, It's good info.
I went to that channel and didn't see the bee hive vid. I did look briefly at "couple falls giant tree with ax" where they used a regular two man saw. And the tree definitely wasn't giant, it wasn't even big enough to warrant my 90CC saw, my 60CC would do..
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