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| Date: | Thu, 31 Jul 2014 08:11:17 +1000 |
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> When you say you paint, I am assuming that you mean using normal exterior
paint. Has there been consideration of using just plain beeswax or a
mixture of melted beeswax and propolis in painting the interior of the
supers? I am loath to use copper napthenate where bees have direct
exposure to it.
I have not considered using plain beeswax or a mixture of beeswax and
propolis as I was satisfied with what I was doing and it has been proved to
be satisfactory. I would think that your proposal would work because it
would stop exposure of the bees to the copper naphthenate (CN).
One thing I did forget to say in the previous post was that CN does not stop
termite (white ant) attack and, as you observed, does not stop ants. For me
the decay (rot) was the target because of our subtropical conditions where I
now live and also when I was in the tropics.
Decay has to have the right conditions to be a problem. If your climate is
not conducive to supporting decay then treatment of supers may not be
necessary.
Of course the other way is to have naturally resistant timber. Here in
Australia we use either plantation hoop or radiata pine. Both have low
natural durability. Our hardwoods are naturally durable but are twice the
weight. There are a couple of light weight timbers, similar in weight to
hoop pine, such as white beech and red cedar but the price for these
timbers, if you can get them, is very expensive. I have a couple of bottom
boxes and supers made out of white beech that I bought from an old
beekeeping family. They would have to be around 70 years old and show no
signs of decay.
Trevor Weatherhead
Australia
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