# Pine vs. Cedar Boxes



## Stadger (Apr 20, 2014)

FWIW, my hives are pine and my bees haven't complained.


----------



## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

I did cedar for the nicer hives around the house, and I make them myself with custom cut lumber that is only around $1 a board foot. I doubt if many can buy it that cheap without going to a sawmill.

My field hives and nuc boxes are all pine.


----------



## flyin-lowe (May 15, 2014)

If you just plan on having 1 or 2 hives and never expanding I might consider cedar. It would be pretty expensive to build a large amount of stuff with cedar. The few times I have been around larger operations they are not cedar, if they don't think the extra life of the box is worth the extra money then I don't think it is. People doing this for a living will do everything they can to get the best bang for the buck


----------



## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

It seems like ceder splits easy. I have ceder lined closets in my house and I always heard it controlled moths. I am guessing it wasn't wax moths though?
gww


----------



## Riverderwent (May 23, 2013)

"Is it really worth paying extra for Cedar or would Pine be a good option to start with?"
How much extra will it cost you to use cedar? I live in a high rainfall area. (Regardless of the wood used, hives here need to be kept off the ground.) We build our own hives and use cedar. I enjoy the woodworking, and I like not being concerned about dipping, painting, or treating the wood. We plane the lumber if and as needed and use the cedar shavings as smoker fuel. It works for us, but it probably is not the best choice for most beekeepers as evidenced by the popularity of pine.


----------



## Learner (Jan 17, 2015)

_> How much extra will it cost you to use cedar?_

Actually I just noticed that it's Pine vs. Cypress (doh!) and not Cedar in my case. Cypress is 50% more expensive.


----------



## Wendellww (Sep 20, 2014)

I am new, but an experienced beekeeper told me that wax moths were the same as the commom "candle fly" type of moth around the house.

Wendellww


----------



## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

Pine would be a good option to start with.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

The only time I make cedar boxes is when it is scrap lumber that I get for free. On the ground it might last longer, but in a box off the ground I don't see any difference. And certainly not enough difference for the difference in price.


----------



## mobe_45 (Mar 14, 2015)

I am a new beek. Will be getting first package in a couple weeks. when we decided to start this endeavor, we were going to have one hive. After tons of reading, we decided to get a second hive. A local Iowa beek also makes/sells hives. He offers pine and Iowa cedar hives. his cedar hive is $30 more than the pine one for two deeps, two mediums, bottom board, top inner board, and expandable cover. So it was decided to buy the second one in cedar. Clear coated it for $20 more. This was cheaper than the External paint for the pine was $28 so we are ok with the price difference.


----------



## JConnolly (Feb 21, 2015)

mobe_45 said:


> This was cheaper than the External paint for the pine was $28 so we are ok with the price difference.


Next time ask your paint dealer about mis-tints. If you aren't picky about the color you can get paint where they goofed on the color mix at steep discounts. I just bought a $70 can of Sherwin Williams light grey premium exterior paint for $5.


----------



## Ian G (Jul 29, 2014)

jdmidwest said:


> $1 a board foot.


For cedar! Wow that's cheap! I'm jealous. I pay almost that much for pine


----------



## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

The other upgrade you'll find advertized is cypress. It is another rot-resistant wood that a lot of people like to keep un-painted. My personal experience with cypress is as replacement trim on the cabin, where the carpenter bees had Swiss-cheesed the pine trim. Carpenter bees don't seem to like cypress.

People who go with this sort of wood are more likely to also use the copper roofs, and are using them as part of garden decor.

But we were on a budget, too, so we went with pine and the bees approved. We put the extra money into Freeman beetle traps instead.


----------



## GarfieldBeek (Jan 12, 2015)

Learner said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm a new beek and I'm getting my first two Langs very soon. I understand that Cedar is more durable compared to Pine but as you can imagine, starting from zero, things add up pretty quickly to blow a modest budget. Is it really worth paying extra for Cedar or would Pine be a good option to start with?
> 
> Thank you.


My second year of bee keeping but 40 something years of woodworking, (an old Industrial Arts teacher and former carpenter), The cypress that you get nowadays has little of the properties that made cypress a popular exterior wood. Most cypress now is very light, loose grained sap wood. It possesses little of the weathering properties of old time cypress. It will decay a little slower than pine but IMHO it is better to save your money and spend it on a good weatherproofing for the pine.


----------



## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I have pine and cypress. I like the cypress but not much more than the pine.


----------



## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

Ian G said:


> For cedar! Wow that's cheap! I'm jealous. I pay almost that much for pine


That was for bandsaw cut red cedar. But it had been air dried and ready to go.

I talked to him today, he has sold his mill. I was looking for some 2x10 cedar to make some Long Lang hives. I guess I will try my local sawmill. His cedar is just as good, but I have to air dry. That adds a year.

Most of the cedar you buy in big boxes is Western Cedar, different species from the Red Cedar I use. 

Any board will split if not properly dried before use.


----------

