I have put together my flow hive now and am wandering on what to coat it all in.
I have done some reading, but want to check on here also.
I have the cedar flow hive 2.
Cedar has the advantage of being rot resistant. You can oil it using Tung oil and retain the beauty of the wood grain.
You can also find someone and wax dip it.
I painted mine on the outside because I believe the paint will give it very good long lasting protection.
My cedar roof warped and leaked so make sure you take extra care with the roof. I caulked all the gaps and gave it several coats of hard wearing decking paint.
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Thankyou! Thats great 
Hi Tracy, welcome to the forum, you will get lot’s of good info here.
I agree with @Honeyeater I also have a Cedar hive and I painted the roof with 3 coats of good white acrylic external paint and have not had any problems. Cheers G
Thanks for all your replies.
Also curious about the location to out my hive. I read that it should be away from light shining from the house. This can be hard to make possible and still keep the hive nearby to keep am eye on. Any advice on this topic. Thanks!
Are you able to face the entrance away from your house whilst also having it face in an easterly direction so the rising sun hits them as early as possible?
I generally find bees go after artificial more light during the warmer months.
Is the front where the bees enter and exit?
Yes it is. You can also try to screen the entrance with some plants.
Watch out if they get inside and you have halogen downlights or ones that get hot, it fuels the bees up into insane mode 
Do they get attracted to any particular kind of lights more than others? I have LEDs, and the hives are 20m away from our main living area with a lot of windows. Hives are to the side, but facing away. I never had any bees coming towards us, not even in summer when the bearding bees outside the hive can see the light.
I’m not sure if particular colour temps make a difference, I’ve seen them buzzing LEDs, incandescent, florescent etc. It’s usually only a handful of them doing it though, can hear them bumping against the windows but they usually survive overnight unless something bigger gets them.
What is bearding bees
In the warmer months when the population is very strong, on very hot days some bees will congregate outside of the hive to help cool it down, they will also do it in preparation for swarming.
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