Jim Satterfield asked:
> Some years ago I read a book by Taylor which suggested painting hive
> bodies with creosote as a preservative.  Anyone ever tried it?  I found
> it hard to believe that the bees would tolerate the creosote fumes.  I
> would be interested to learn of your experiences.  Thank you.  Jim
 
I've used creosote for years without any problems.  It's widely used by
beekeepers in the UK.  It's cheap and does the job.  An advantage in our
climate is that it leaves the wood a dark colour so that the hives warm
up more quickly in the morning.  (Of course, this would be a disadvantage
in countries further to the south where hives are normally painted a
light colour to keep them cool.)  In addition it doesn't prevent the
wood from "breathing" which is of considerable value with our damp
weather.
 
I replace my floors and hive bodies in the spring.  This means that I
can treat all my woodware whilst it's not occupied by bees.  I'll soon
be starting again on my supers and spare hive parts.  (Once we have a
dry spell!)  This is easy for me since I'm only a small scale hobby
beekeeper and it means that my bees are not exposed to creosote fumes.
However, it would be out of the question for larger scale operations.
Nevertheless, I'm told many commercial UK beekeepers use creosote as
well.  I believe they simply paint the hives with the bees in them.  At
least that's what one of them told me he did.  He said it worried him
a bit when he first started to do it but he'd never had any problems.
Presumably one would only do it in the winter when few bees were likely
to emerge from the entrance whilst the creosote was wet.
 
--
Malcolm Roe                                Phone  :  +44 1442 345104
Crosfield Electronics Ltd                  Fax    :  +44 1442 343000
Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK        E-mail :  [log in to unmask]
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