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Author Topic: The color of the hive bodies  (Read 8519 times)

Offline leechmann

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The color of the hive bodies
« on: March 07, 2009, 05:06:09 pm »
I have lots of questions, being new to this hobby. One of the things I am wondering about is the different colors of hive bodies. I see that some boxes are painted different types of light greens, pinks, yellows and tans. Is there a reason for this?

I am in the process of painting the boxes I have. I bought some white flat paint. Just curious, why do bee people use flat paint?

Thanks for your help.

Leechmann

Offline thegolfpsycho

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #1 on: March 07, 2009, 05:12:51 pm »
Whatever is in the cheap bin at the fred meyer works for me.  Ever notice where bees live?  THey don't care much, so why should you?  I prefer lighter colors to reflect ultraviolet in the heat of summer.

Offline JP

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2009, 05:22:11 pm »
Since you're in Mn you might consider going with darker shades that will help with heat retention in winter time.

Trees are natural places for bees to be and they're dark brown.

In warmer climates lighter colors are better so they don't retain as much heat. I use mixed medium shades from the oops isle at Home Depot.

Some people paint them colors that help them blend in if they're close to the city as to not draw attention.


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Offline the kid

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #3 on: March 07, 2009, 07:17:53 pm »
 the color of that paint you have, in the pail, in the basement, will do just fine ..
 place the hive in the sun ,,  if you can have a wind break .. for the winter..
they will do a lot better in the sun then shade ,,, summer and winter ...
from what I've read,, puting the hive in the sun,, is more important then hive color...  less disease is my understanding .....

Offline fermentedhiker

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #4 on: March 07, 2009, 08:24:36 pm »
Using different colors within the same apiary can help reduce drifting by making it easier for the bees to tell the hives apart.
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Offline rast

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #5 on: March 07, 2009, 09:25:00 pm »
 Down here in Fl. we use light colors due to the summer heat. That said, I have read studies that say that 4 hives, side by side, 18" apart, the outside hives will strengthen and the 2 inside hives will weaken due to worker bees going into the first hive they come to. Some say that different colors help reduce that, some say that some sort of a design on the front of the box helps combat that. A queen breeder near me uses that method, just slaps of different color paint in slashes, X's and O's. Most of the commercials that come in around me in the winter on 4 hive pallets are all the same color. Being a small beekeeper, mine are far enough apart I don't worry about it.
Fools argue; wise men discuss.
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Offline alfred

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2009, 01:04:22 am »
I painted mine all sorts of bright colors for fun!
Alfred


Offline JP

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2009, 10:37:00 am »
I painted mine all sorts of bright colors for fun!
Alfred



Alfred, love the colors. You keep on stacking, you'll need a ladder to pull those supers.


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Offline Shawn

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2009, 03:58:07 pm »
I have painted my first two white. The next hive that comes in Im leaving plain, no paint. We dont get much rain or snow here so it should weather ok.

Offline MustbeeNuts

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2009, 04:27:54 pm »
seems to me most of the offtint that I get at lowes is grey, seems that grey must be a hard color to match. So mine are grey. I was thinking about camo this year. LOL JK
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Offline Cindi

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2009, 04:47:52 pm »
Alfred, I would watch out for the bees cleansing and the clean laundry hanging out, smiling.  When I was reading the book "The ABC and XYZ..." the author talked about speaking to the neighbouring women to warn them when the hives would be starting their first cleansing flights and to be careful when putting out the clean white laundry on their clothesline.  Conjures up all kinds of thoughts here, smiling.  Have a wonderful and most beautifully awesome day, life, health.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Jim134

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2009, 05:04:23 pm »
Does anyone use preserve on the inside of there hive's? Take a look it the lasts 2 pictures. It is 100% pure sunflower or olive oil.


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   BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)
« Last Edit: March 08, 2009, 05:40:20 pm by Jim 134 »
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Offline trapperbob

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2009, 05:05:45 pm »
I buy all the mistint paint I can find when I go to wal-mart,home depot and lowes. Drives my wife crazy.The bees don,t mind and it looks interesting.

Offline Shawn

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2009, 05:17:04 pm »
I dont paint the inside. Woops, I didnt read your post right. I thought you were syaing paint the inside. Sorry
« Last Edit: March 08, 2009, 07:15:39 pm by Shawn »

Offline Cindi

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2009, 05:20:59 pm »
Jim, I am of the firm belief that the insides of the hive should NOT be painted.  There is no need to paint.  The reason for painting hive bodies is to protect the outside of the boxes from the elements.  The inside of the box is ONLY exposed to the elements of the bees.

I look at the site that you had in the post.  The last two pictures that I saw were each of a hive body.  The author indicated that he painted the inside of these hive bodies with sunflower or olive oil, not paint.  That is what the pictures that I saw, maybe there were other pictures you were speaking of, but I saw two pictures of a hive body.

There is not a single need to paint the inside of a box of a hive, period.  Have a most wonderful and awesome day, life, health.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Jim134

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #15 on: March 08, 2009, 06:02:05 pm »
Yes the paint is 100%  sunflower oil or olive oil 2 coats

Alexander The Great Use olive oil to protect bridge's he soaked the wood in olive oil

   


             BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :) 
« Last Edit: March 08, 2009, 06:30:17 pm by Jim 134 »
"Tell me and I'll forget,show me and I may  remember,involve me and I'll understand"
        Chinese Proverb

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways."
 John F. Kennedy
Franklin County Beekeepers Association MA. http://www.franklinmabeekeepers.org/

Offline alfred

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #16 on: March 08, 2009, 06:54:15 pm »
That's not laundry, they are Tibetan prayer flags  I have them all over my property.  I put some older worn out ones up around the enclosure to remind me not to wander into the electric fence! I'm not to bright that way.

Alfred

Offline Cindi

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #17 on: March 09, 2009, 01:12:04 pm »
That's not laundry, they are Tibetan prayer flags  I have them all over my property.  I put some older worn out ones up around the enclosure to remind me not to wander into the electric fence! I'm not to bright that way.
Alfred

Alfred, oh no!!!    :(  :roll:  :)  :)  I am shocked and I fully apologize for that mistake, I am serious, and I hope to my lucky stars that you were not offended.  If I have offended you.....then please accept my fullest and deepest apology.  I really mean that.  I will look more closely at the picture.  I feel awful......

Now you have given me something else to learn about, and that is a wonderful and most awesome thing.

Can you take the time to tell me all about the Tibetan Prayer Flags?  It sounds like you may be a person that is involved with something very cool, a prayer flag, and I would more than certainly love to hear about this.  Can/will you talk about it to me (and others, I am sure others may be interested too).  I hope that this may not be a secret thing, like many parts of religions, where certain things may not be spoken about.  Curiosity never got this cat.....have that most wonderfully awesome and great day, life, health, love our lives we all live, love and share.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Cindi

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #18 on: March 09, 2009, 01:14:00 pm »
I painted mine all sorts of bright colors for fun!
Alfred



Alfred, I looked more closely at the flags.  I think it is a wonderful thing that you have done, and I don't doubt for a minute that hanging of these flags has placed some wonderful karma with your colonies, smiling that beautiful smile.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Sean Kelly

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Re: The color of the hive bodies
« Reply #19 on: March 09, 2009, 01:46:46 pm »
Does anyone use preserve on the inside of there hive's? Take a look it the lasts 2 pictures. It is 100% pure sunflower or olive oil.


    http://www.beebehavior.com/natural_beekeeping.php


   BEE HAPPY Jim 134  :)

The famous beekeeping author Keith Deleplane recommends using copper naphthenate in his books and videos so I set out to give it a try last year.
I used Copper Green which is a copper naphthenate product that's available at Home Depot.  It makes a big mess but it works like magic.  I highly recommend using heavy rubber dish gloves.  Here in the Pacific Northwest it rains a TON and is always damp all winter.  Inner covers and telescoping covers seem to absorb water and rot pretty quickly.  Used this stuff on these too and they still look like new.  The bees didn't mind Copper Green but make sure it's completely dry and soaked in before installing bees just to be safe.  The stuff takes a really long time to dry.  I had to bring my hive bodies inside the house since the weather wasn't dry enough for it to soak in which made the entire house smell like copper nap.
Another problem was painting over it.  Since it's really oily, latex paint has a hard time sticking to it.  And the weird green color bleeds through if you use white paint like I do.
Now this is not a paint.  I know painting the inside is not a good thing since it will not allow the wood to breathe.  This stuff will let the wood breathe and moisture control is the same as if it's not treated which is good for the bees.

Will I use copper naphthenate again?  I think I definitely will for Telescoping covers, migratory covers, inner covers, bottom boards, and hive stands.  I might do so for my deep hive bodies, but only on the inside since I will just paint the outside.  I do not recommend using copper naphthenate for honey supers since the supers are on your hive for a short while and are not exposed to the elements all year.  Plus your honey might take on the flavors of naphthenate which might be bad.

Sean Kelly
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