Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: zzzzzzzzpr on May 04, 2013, 04:07:47 am

Title: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: zzzzzzzzpr on May 04, 2013, 04:07:47 am

i bought the beehive building for dumbies. i like most of whats in it. since im not working at that moment
i'd figured id try to buildsome lang hives and frames. i have a couple of KTBH. when i painted those i didnt paint the inside
at all. now for the bottom board and top feeder they suggest useing marine grade varnish inside the hive. the top of the bottom board would be covered in that varnish, as well as the top feeder where thesugar water would go.
is this safe for the bees? i figured id try building a topfeeder, but will spend the few dollors on the frame feeders.

Title: Re: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: PeeVee on May 05, 2013, 02:49:56 pm

Don't paint the inside of any portion (boxes, inner cover, bottom board). The bees will coat the inside with propolis which also acts as an antibacterial.

Welcome to the insanity of bee keeping!

Title: Re: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: AllenF on May 05, 2013, 03:20:45 pm

Bees will just polish and coat all the wood on the inside of the hive.   You really just waste your time to paint the inside of a hive.   

Title: Re: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: hardwood on May 05, 2013, 09:06:56 pm

When I used bottom boards I painted the entire thing. Not so that they'd be protected within the hive but when not in use I'd just stack them somewhere and didn't want to worry so much about rot/warping. Never had a problem with latex.

Scott

Title: Re: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: RC on May 05, 2013, 09:35:16 pm

Quote

When I used bottom boards

Scott, you don't use bottom boards?

Title: Re: marine varnish for inside hive?
Post by: hardwood on May 06, 2013, 09:51:45 am

I use pallets now.

Scott