# How to get one more season out of old woodenware



## swamprat (Jan 5, 2009)

compared to my mentors hives your hives are premo condishion


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

They were actually in better condition than they had a right to be, but the corners are pretty much gone. I may have been tempted to re-use, if I had any idea of they health of the old colonies. Tomatoes were safer.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I would have kept bees in those for at least ten more years.


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

odfrank : ----Hobie needs to take some 'time off' to recover  from raising bees; and raise tomatoes for this year. --- "As a post script, due to my current situation, I have no plans to get any more bees, unless I can luck into a free swarm".--Hobie,..March, 09. '
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227367&highlight=lost+hives

Great idea, Hobie! Also, not a bad idea for the beekeeper that has this kind of equipment available to someone who want to use it for this purpose. If they were poor in condition for hives, it wouldn't take much to "fix em up" for that.


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## BeePuncher (May 25, 2007)

*Old boxes better, perhaps?*

They look great, I would use them without hesitation. I do recall a Canadian study that concluded older boxes with their little openings and imperfections are better than brand new ones, the issue being ventilation. I am assuming taking an old box gives the bees the option of fine tuning the setup with propolis. Wish I would have kept a copy of that study!


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

What you can't see in the photos is the carpenter ant tunnels...


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## AndreiRN (Jun 13, 2008)

Soak them in salt water for few days and wood will not taste good anymore.


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## Natalie (Jan 14, 2009)

Hobie, I think that is a great idea. You know if you wanted to grow potatoes in them you can keep stacking the boxes.
Its like when people grow potatoes in old tires and you keep adding the next one as the plants grow and then you take them off to harvest.


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