I’m not going to argue with a plasterer about patching holes. PlastiBond it is! (@ $30 a pop, it costs more than a new brood box, but never mind, I’ll only use a little)
One of my original Flow hive has no issues apart from the roof. The other was just a mess. Flow have been quite helpful to be fair.
I was surprised that this new laser cut brood box was not as good. My understanding is that Flow had some manufacturing issues but are now mostly sorted.
What bugs me is that with wood, if you want to seek perfection (to match the price in this case) the product has to be discarded and a new one sent. If I’m going to paint them anyway, I don’t mind having some filler and fix them - it makes me feel good that the product wasn’t wasted.
If I bought a luxury car, it’s a different matter. But I’m not into luxury cars fortunatlety.
Hi Stefan, I hope you have some other jobs lined up for that 400g tin. You probably only need as much as a walnut to fix the gaps. Anyway put the lid back on tight, it keeps well for years.
The end grain of any timber and the edges of the box where rain water can sit and won’t run off is where a box will begin to rot first Stefan.
Yeah, bee keeping is a bad addiction and it is so easy to justify having just one more hive. That is till you go to buy it then decide a second one is a smart move. By the time you get home you just know you should have got six, or more.
Cheers
Oh… thanks Peter. I was thinking that it’s the inside that’s most vulnerable because of the humidity, and is usually untreated.
I am making sure that the end grains and joints are well sealed from the outside.
On the inside corners, I dabbed some extra wood glue and then I will paint some bees wax on top. Hopefully it will keep moisture out of the joints from the inside.
Hi Stefan, it’s mainly the top & bottom corners as well as the top & bottom edges
It’s a shame you can’t get your head around using copper naphthenate because none of the boxes I treated over the past 20 years have rotted. Except for the ones where I didn’t cut enough dry rot out of the boxes before repairing them. That’s only in 2 boxes that currently need some minor repairs.
Don’t be frightened to paint the insides of the boxes either. Painting the insides of boxes doesn’t affect the bees or the honey.
When I make up boxes I also run a bead of Aquadhere or no more gaps along the corner joints, whichever is handy, to help against rotting, but I think there is not the risk of rotting from internal moisture. Amazing the number of hives I visit with un-painted box edges while the owners, in my opinion, got carried away with so much sanding and well painted outside faces of the boxes.
I agree with @JeffH about using copper napthenate, used with care it certainly has its uses and not as bad as it was once thought to be if used with care.
Cheers.
Jeffery - which part of “I’m a new age hippie” you do not get?
haha…
I’m on this organic bandwagon and chemical free zen, and you want me to soak my virgin pine hive in some crude oil byproduct or whatever that naphthenate is derived from. Madness.
Joking aside, and before Dawn slaps me down… I’m actually looking into it, just trying to avoid it.
I have to strongly agree. The only reason I paint is to make it look pretty.
If the hive is a well prepared with copper naphthenate there is no reason apart from aesthetics to paint it. It will not rot.
The bees will coat the inside with wax so not a great worry.
Copper naphthenate will stop the rot, but the sun will still give it a good battering if you do not paint it. Painting is always a good idea, I think, at least here.
I have posts in the ground treated with Cu Nap, and in 25 years did not rot one bit. UV still took its toll though and they’re all splitting.
I’m treating my Flow hives same as my house, using quality paints etc. I think per square metre, the Flow hive actually costs more than my house!
Copper napthenate is a salt of copper, purely natural, it is not man made. Jeff and I are only giving you advice on how to get a lot more life from your hive boxes in preventing the timber rotting, it is up to you to do the research and decide if it is right for you. Do a Google on ‘copper naphthenate’ then make a choice for you mate, but I know of hives at least 30 years old that were treated once when they were made and still as good as when they were made with repainting a few times. It isn’t the ‘evil ogre’ it was once thought to be, but it does need care in using it till it has dried.
Flow got in touch with me, thanks to @Freebee2, and although I didn’t take up the offer to replace parts as I preferred to fix, than waste, they still helped with some other issues I had with other purchases.
All in all I have to say that this company is a legend like no other. I never came across a company as ethical, and supportive as this. Never, and surely not in this country. They are truly impressive.
Thumbs up.
If anyone knows where I can leave a review for them apart from their website, let me know. I can’t leave a google review.
Wow that’s very nice feedback @Numbatino!
I’m very pleased our lovely Kieran was able to assist with some of the issues you experienced (if there are any not yet sorted, please let us know so we can attempt to close those out too).
We really appreciate your position on reusing and repairing where possible, so we are pretty pleased with your ethics as a customer too! Have a lovely holiday season
