Wood for beehive.

[breffni]

Hello all I'm looking for wood to make a top bar beehive. I can get some which is unseasoned but id like some I could use now. Il plane it abd all myself so doesn't need to be smooth. Thanks alot lads and lassies.

[Big J]

I cut a lot of cedar for beehives. Hundreds of tonnes of the stuff.

 

It dries extremely quickly. 23mm cedar will air dry within a month - just take the green stock and dry it yourself

[breffni]

It's larch I can get hold off. Would you send me some?

[Big J]

I could do, though I'm actually rather short on supply at the moment. Larch will dry quickly too, though probably two months rather than 1. Store it somewhere under cover, with strong air flow.

[breffni]

If you could spare cedar I'd prefer that really. Could I send you a list of what I need and see if it's doable?

[TGB]

If you need it to be uniform pieces, then plane it. But you don't really need it to be smooth on the outside. And on the inside, the comb won't be built down to the bottom or sides. Any small gaps will be sealed with propolis by the bees. If you want a smoother inside. Before the bees move in or before you introduce a colony, you could rub the inside with bees' wax, which will also encourage a colony to set up home. Also, rubbing or spaying around the entrance with essential oil of lemongrass, which seems to be fairly well matched to a bee pheromone and will also encourage bees to set up home.

[Big J]

If you could spare cedar I'd prefer that really. Could I send you a list of what I need and see if it's doable?

 

Do that. I'll see what we can do. We're cutting cedar again next week. Otherwise, if your hive works with timber that is less than 125mm wide, I've got tonnes (literally) of reject boards at 150mm that can be edged down to 125mm or less.

[muttley9050]

If you could spare cedar I'd prefer that really. Could I send you a list of what I need and see if it's doable?

 

Got plenty of 25mm year old cedar. Where you based?

[breffni]

Do that. I'll see what we can do. We're cutting cedar again next week. Otherwise, if your hive works with timber that is less than 125mm wide, I've got tonnes (literally) of reject boards at 150mm that can be edged down to 125mm or less.

 

Have you an email address I could send it too?

[breffni]

Got plenty of 25mm year old cedar. Where you based?

 

I'm based in North wales