Mold on outside of hive

[Snakey]

This humid weather here in MD has made some black mold/mildew start to grow on the outside of my beehive. It's mostly around the bottom board and my bees are busy trying to clean the wood around their entrance. I didn't open it up today so I don't know if there is any mold inside but it was clean two weeks ago when I inspected.

So I guess I need to treat the wood? Is Thompson's water sealer safe to put on there? Or what should I do? My hive is made of cypress. Sorry if this has been asked before but I did some searching and did not find an answer. Halp!

[rbinhood]

Is the hive painted or was it left natural?

[Snakey]

Is the hive painted or was it left natural?

natural

[rbinhood]

If it were me I would sit the hive on another bottom board then treat it with a strong solution of chlorine bleach and then if you want to keep it natural seal it with two or three coats of waterbased polyurethane or use a couple of coats of good quality paint.  But don't use the Thompson's water seal, have a friend that used it to seal some new hives and the results were not good.

[Snakey]

Okay, thanks for your advice!

[AllenF]

Mildew on the outside of the hive can't hurt the inside of the hives.   Just looks bad to us and shortens the life of the wood.   But for the bees, it don't matter.