Hi,
We purchased the cedar flow hive 2.
The brood box and some other parts looks to be made of pine? Has anyone else had this problem?
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It maybe cedar that looks like pine. You’ll be able to do weight comparisons with other folks that have flow hives in cedar & or pine. Pine is much heavier than cedar. Cedar gives off a beautiful aroma if you hit it with an angle sander. Not that you’ll want to do that 
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Welcome to the Flow forum!
I agree with @JeffH, that probably is cedar. Cedar is an extremely variable colour, so you can’t rely on that to tell you. It is a lot lighter than pine (by about 40%) so if you had a pine box to compare it with, you would know. Beautiful looking hive though. Some of my boxes were quite a bit lighter, but they darken with Tung Oil. After a couple of years, they all look pretty similar.
Hopefully @Freebee2 can confirm what we have all written, as @skeggley says. 
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If you look at the removable panel at the back of the hive, that is definitely cedar, going by the color at the top. Then the color grades down to nearly the exact color at the bottom as the rest of the hive with the blonde appearance.
If I was a betting man, I’d put my money on cedar.
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Welcome to the forum Nicole, you will find lots of reading here as well as good advice and tips from the members. There are many members on the Central Coast that can be of great value about local conditions.
Cheers
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Hi Pete, did you get any of that rain? It bucketed down here for a minute or so. A nice drop yesterday as well. The temp dropped about 8 degrees after the rain this afternoon.
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Got 20mm last night and 12mm from the storm today that lasted an hour with heaps of thunder and lightening and a loss of electricity. Every bit counts. I was at my apiary this morning and lots of nectar in the frames. This past week most evenings there has been passing rain but with the really warm days I guess most of it evaporates. It is looking a lot better than it was in September.
Cheers
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Haha… No I don’t think I’ll do that.
We do have a pine one though. I’ll check the weight difference
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Hi Nicole @Nicole.hawach
I’d also like to welcome you to the forum 
I agree totally with all the other replies you’ve had from the other forum members here and I’m sure you’ll find that all of your FH2 boxes will be made of Western Red Cedar and definitely not pine. There will also be colour variations on all of the panels.
As @JeffH said ‘Cedar gives off a beautiful aroma’ which I’m sure you enjoyed as you opened your packing box. I know i did!
I’ve included a couple of pictures of my FH2 brood box for you as a reference and comparison to yours as the before and after treatment with D-Limonene Citrus/Orange Turpene and Tung Oil, and you can see from those the colour variation of cedar wood.
I hope this helps.
Enjoy your Flow Hive 2 and happy beekeeping! 
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That’s exactly how it should look. Couple of coates of Tung oil and wait and see it transform.
The wonder of natural sustainable wood.
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Hi @Nicole.hawach
(& Thanks @skeggley & @Dawn_SD)
Yes that’s Western Red Cedar. There can be a massive variation in the tone of the timber (often even within the same panel), which will homogenise slightly once you treat it (with tung oil or linseed oil, for example) but won’t disappear. You can see that this variation occurs even in our product images promoting the cedar hives. As Skeggley & Dawn & others have correctly pointed out, the most important feature of the Western Red Cedar is that it weighs less than the pine (you’ll be thankful for this come inspection time, as once you have 18 odd kg honey in there, even the cedar gets pretty heavy!) It is also a more durable timber, allowing you the option to stain it rather than paint it if you wish - though it’s not a bad idea to still paint the roof for added protection. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns - and feel free to share pics with us once you’ve treated and positioned your hive as we’d love to see
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Thank you.
Will do x
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@nickg7 Do you mind if I ask why you used the Citrus Turpene? At what juncture of the finishing process did you use it?
I recently purchased 2 FH2 Araucaria 7 Frame Hives.
As Winter is upon us, I have not opened the boxes to begin putting them together. So I am seeking the best finish I can find to protect them going forward.
Thanks,
Tim
South Carolina, USA
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Welcome to the Flow forum, Tim!
It may be my fault that he used it! 
When I got my first Flow hive, many moons ago, I tried sealing one box with neat pure Tung Oil. It was very hard work and did not go onto the somewhat uneven cedar surface very smoothly. So I used a professional varnishing trick and thinned the Tung Oil 1:1 with food grade Citrus Turpene (or D-Limonene, as it is called here in the US). That made it penetrate very easily for the first coat. I did a second coat of the same dilution, then a top coat of 100% Tung Oil with no thinning.
Having said all that, your Araucaria hives are made of a type of pine. Tung oil is good for cedar, but less good for pine. Pine rots more easily and is much more prone to insect damage. You may be better off using an exterior grade house paint or sealant. 
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@Dawn_SD is correct - a couple of coats of quality exterior paint is what we recommend for the Araucaria, to ensure that it weathers well.
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Hi Tim @NuBeeFlow2 and welcome too to the Flow Forum!
I used the Citrus Turpene for the exact same reason as Dawn has explained in great detail for you, and thanks for the tip Dawn (i was wondering where i got the idea from - it must’ve come from you) 
and the Orange Citrus Turpene smells great for days too!
Going back to last Winter when i had a lot of time on my hands, I’d do a little each day preparing my FH2, treated piece by piece, then building ready for Spring, although three coats thinned down and a couple of coats (drying in between) of Tung Oil at 100%. Overkill i know (!) but as i said, i had a lot of time on my hands and the Winter days living on a boat are also long!
You’re probably going to be using a different finish for your Araucaria Hive as recommended by @Dawn_SD and @Freebee2 and you may already know that you only need to paint the outside. Leave the inside of your boxes as your bees will love the natural wood and take care of the internal decoration with their wax and propolis.
Enjoy preparing and building your hive Tim 
Happy Beekeeping with your bees when Spring is with us
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To @nickg7, @Dawn_SD, and @Freebee2. Thanks for the responses and the info. I do love the natural wood look although I have a good grasp on the limitations of the hoop pine. I’m seeking a solution to give me the beauty and protection.
Living in NE South Carolina about 60 miles from the coast our Humidity levels are through the roof in the Summers. Having pine decking on our patio I use a Semi-Transparent Waterproofing Satin & Sealer from Behr. They state 6 yrs protection on decks and 8 on fencing. In the past I have gotten 4 good years and 5 when being lazy before having to recoat. I may try something like this on one of the FH2’s and latex paint on the other to see how each fares in the coming years.
I am so looking forward to the arrival of Spring to get our Colonies started. Thank you all so much for sharing all of the info and wisdom you spread here on the forums.
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Just a tip Tim, as well as treating the outside of the box also be sure to do the box edges as any rain water can sit in there with out evaporating quickly and so that is where the timber can begin to rot. As already said leave the inside of the box untreated, you just need to do the box edges and the outsides and the bees will do the rest.
Cheers
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No worries Tim -
It’s really up to you - and sounds like you are pretty well aware that if you choose not to paint your hive, it’s likely to look quite weathered over time. You could contact customer support to discuss the possibility of switching to a Western Red Cedar hive if you’ve got your heart set on the natural timber look and want a timber better suited to that option… but having said that the bees are unlikely to be bothered by the timber weathering and deteriorating a bit if you’re not
Would love to see photos of your hive once you’ve finished assembling and treating it
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