Ok. So a couple months ago I built several bee hive boxes with kiln dried yellow pine. I used box joints and Titebond III glue. I also put a nail in the end of the box in each of the second joints (four nails per end, one joint up from bottom and down from top). I did not put any nails in the sides. Outsides of the boxes are stained with Olympic stain and sealer and a top coat of clear Olympic sealer. No sealer inside which is typical of beehives.
New bees showed up a little earlier than I expected so I had to take a few boxes straight from the shop outside to hive the bees. When bees first start out, you feed them sugar water and they evaporate it along with nectar inside the hive. As such, during the Spring and Fall, a lot of humidity is generated inside the hive during the evaporation process. Although, there is some venting through the entrance and out a ventilation hole near the top.
Boxes have been on the hive for almost a week now and the side rails are starting to cup. I'll try to post a photo showing what is happening to the top and bottom joints. I haven't had this happen to boxes in the past so I'm looking for suggestions on what to do differently or what to do with the ones on the hive. I had a single box on the hive starting two weeks ago that did the same thing. I moved the bees out of that box and into these, which they don't like very well and I now will have to move them again into another box. Once I brought the first box back into conditioned space, the joints closed back up for the most part and I added additional nails to the sides. I haven't put that first box back on yet to know whether that will solve the problem. I know the inside high levels of moisture are causing the problems and I can see the cupping stops at the level where the original four nails were installed. I would appreciate any advice you may have. Thanks.
New bees showed up a little earlier than I expected so I had to take a few boxes straight from the shop outside to hive the bees. When bees first start out, you feed them sugar water and they evaporate it along with nectar inside the hive. As such, during the Spring and Fall, a lot of humidity is generated inside the hive during the evaporation process. Although, there is some venting through the entrance and out a ventilation hole near the top.
Boxes have been on the hive for almost a week now and the side rails are starting to cup. I'll try to post a photo showing what is happening to the top and bottom joints. I haven't had this happen to boxes in the past so I'm looking for suggestions on what to do differently or what to do with the ones on the hive. I had a single box on the hive starting two weeks ago that did the same thing. I moved the bees out of that box and into these, which they don't like very well and I now will have to move them again into another box. Once I brought the first box back into conditioned space, the joints closed back up for the most part and I added additional nails to the sides. I haven't put that first box back on yet to know whether that will solve the problem. I know the inside high levels of moisture are causing the problems and I can see the cupping stops at the level where the original four nails were installed. I would appreciate any advice you may have. Thanks.