Please tell me I have not ruined my new hive!

[CJW]

I have recently bought my first National Beehive. It red cedar as recommended by most of the book. I know it acceptable to put it put without treating the wood BUT my other half likes the colour of the wood as is and didn't want a "grey" hive in the garden. I want to keep the other half on side and develope a joint interest in bees so I did some research and read that Danish Oil could be used to preserve the wood for bee hives.

I treated the outside but for some reason I also treated the inside with Danish oil. Now it has dawned on me that there was no need to treat the inside. I am worried I will harm the bees if I put them in my new hive this Spring.

Will the Danish oil on the inside cause heat / condensation problems?
Have I just made a catostrophic mistake as a newby?

Any opinion / advice would be apprecaited to help on my steep learning curve!

CJ

 

[broandy]

It be alright but best not to treat any hive inside.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Your hive will be okay,the danish oil will of soaked in well, and any odour pretty much gone by the time you have bee's.

 

[MartinB]

I recently bought a hive from hivemaker, he has proved to be a fantastic source of information. You might want to ask him, he builds hives and has successfully kept bees for a long time.

Post script. I told you Hivemaker was good, he answered while I was typing this and I didn't see his post until after i had posted this!

 

[Skyhook]

Might be a good idea to make sure there is good air circulation inside, eg store it with the roof off, to allow the solvents to clear.

 

[nonstandard]

You could always give it a rub down with some rough sandpaper on the inside to remove any surface sheen left by the D oil. But more importantly as previously stated give it plenty of air.

 

[MrB]

You have not ruined your new hive

There, hows that!

seriously, as said before by Hivemaker the oil will have soaked in before you install the bee's so i would not worry about it.

 

[Midland Beek]

Give your new hive a good air, that's all.