Hi - I want to avoid toxins near the bees but also want to preserve the exterior wood of the hive. What kind of oil is best? Linseed? Tung? Thanks in advance ~ Carrie
Post has be rewritten as I misread the question.
Tung seems to be the favoured treatment.
Just do a search (the magnifying glass thing top right hand corner) for “tung oil” and or “hive treatment” as there is extensive discussion on this subject.
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Tung oil is a good clean choice. If you go to the hardware store and buy Minwax or some other off the shelf brand you will get something that says Tung oil, but does not actually have much tung oil in it. Citrus solvent is used for thinning it.
I know of a few places to get the real thing. Beethinking is the maker of the woodware for Flowhive in North America, so if you are ordering other bits and bobs and can combine the shipping it’s a good deal.
The other two places have the Citric Terps.
http://www.realmilkpaint.com/products/oils/?gclid=CMD-x6efmcwCFU1gfgodeTANdQ
http://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop/consumable/oils-rubbing/pure-tung-oil-detail
We used linseed oil. Should be good, from what I heard from other beekeepers.
Yes, 10 parts Linseed to 1 part bees wax is a true and tried treatment, though it will need to be re-applied at least every year.