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Author Topic: hive painting  (Read 4129 times)

Offline tina

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hive painting
« on: April 27, 2011, 05:53:09 pm »
if my hive has a large roof over the top cover so the rain never gets it   does it need to be painted  that's for a hot humid climate  any ideas please

Offline Lone

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2011, 08:49:27 pm »
Hello Tina,
I think that is a good idea up here.  We put the hives under a corrugated iron roof so the bees get the early morning sun but don't have to suffer our extreme heat and wet. Some people put a sheet of iron directly on the hive.  Regarding painting, that depends what material you are using and whether you want a bush job or a palace.  It would help if you can send a picture.



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Lone

Offline tina

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2011, 09:00:00 pm »
what a beaut photo and a brillant idea    love the honey bear     it will be a new hive body that's arriving soon     at the moment the old hive has a large sheet of laminated wood over it  very heavy and wind and waterproof   but if i get any more hives the way you have done yours is the way i would go    in the wet the bees could still get out to a feeder

Offline Lone

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2011, 09:18:46 pm »
haha that wasn't meant to be a honeybear, it was a magpie scarecrow which didn't work.  A couple of rogue maggies were picking off bees.  By the way, note the height of stands you'll need to stop the canetoads, and the oil cans to stop the ants.  Toads will still lurk round for the bees crawling on the ground.  When you feed, that's generally inside the hive anyway, on top of the frames or with an upturned bottle through a hole in the lid.

Lone

Offline Grieth

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2011, 10:20:27 pm »
White is significantly cooler than even silver roof paint (years ago a friend did a test painting roofing sheets and leaving them out over a thermometer).  I assume that's why aust hives are generally painted white and European ones many colours.  Gloss would be a better reflector than mat.  However, provided the hive is in shade a darker colour wouldn't seem to matter, may even emit heat faster for cooling down in the afternoon, provided it is shaded.
I have mine white, but in the home garden, decorated with colours but predominately white.

There is a guy in the US who has made a solar powered extractor fan roof which he sells.  Looks like a hive roof with solar panel and computer cooling fan!  Might be good in NQ?
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings”
Lewis Carroll

Offline tina

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2011, 10:38:17 pm »
we don't have meat ants here   just big tree ants, so far they haven't bothered the bees    i have the hive up on cement blocks on carpet for SHB larvae    we hope the toads will gobble the larvae   there's a big crowd (of toads) waiting under the entrance every night

solar powered fans sounds a bit fancy for us

Offline Shanevrr

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2011, 10:50:59 pm »
it would keep them from getting weathered and lookg ugly
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Offline Grieth

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2011, 08:44:09 am »
I went to an open day at one of the big commercial operations on the weekend.  They hot wax dip their boxes at 170 degrees for 7 mins then use concrete paving paint (oil based). They reckon they get years longer out of their boxes.  They were dipping and painting boxes if you brought your own for $4 each, so I got 4 done to see how they last compared to just water based house paint.  I don,t know if there is anyone who will wax dip for a reasonable cost at other times.
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings”
Lewis Carroll

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #8 on: May 03, 2011, 09:32:57 pm »
Wax dipping is awesome! all of mine are wax dipped from my supplier and i love it! 10 years with no maintenance - i'm looking at setting up my own dipping tank at the moment as i'm hoping to do some rapid increases soon and need to save some $$ where i can

Offline OzBuzz

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #9 on: May 03, 2011, 09:33:29 pm »
I went to an open day at one of the big commercial operations on the weekend. 

Was that up in Central Vic Grieth?

Offline Grieth

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Re: hive painting
« Reply #10 on: May 04, 2011, 09:57:11 am »
At a place near Bendigo. Very nice people to open their sheds for the day.
"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and kings”
Lewis Carroll