Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS => Topic started by: pdmattox on December 29, 2006, 06:43:49 pm
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What color did you paint your hives? Do you use more than one color?
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>What color did you paint your hives?
Usually I don't:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#stoppainting
> Do you use more than one color?
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeseightframemedium.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnucs.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeshorizontalhives.htm
Obviously not.
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You live in Florida and ask what color. You may notice if you put your hand on different color wooden board.
In sunshine dark colors are very hot and hot moves inside the hive.
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Some of mine are dark blue and some of my supers are red. That's just what happened to be in the mistint pile at Ace when I went.
If I lived in a hotter climate, I would paint them a lighter color.
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I paint most of my yellow with green bottom boards and tops. when I run out of those colors I will continue to use what's handy until I need to buy some at which time I will probably opt for a latex wood stain. Just stay away from dark colors like black or purple for the reasons Finsky cites.
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When buying paint on purpose that's not mistints ect. I always buy white. But I'd like to start dipping in paraffin.
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Lake City, FL
I drive by that when I go to Atlanta. It is where I-10 and I-75 meet.
I have some white hive bodies. But they were painted before I bought them. I don't paint mine anymore.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
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I've painted all my hives white. I worry about anything darker overheating my hives here and, I had abotu 2 gallons of the the stuff just sitting around.
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Lake City, FL
I drive by that when I go to Atlanta. It is where I-10 and I-75 meet.
I have some white hive bodies. But they were painted before I bought them. I don't paint mine anymore.
Sincerely,
Brendhan
Your right about the location I live south of that intersection at mile marker 412.
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I paint them white or I don't I'm a hpuse painter so I always have paint'
kirkio
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what about ply just on the outside of the hive -hmmm deep thought of yours i would like to know :) ;) :( :-X :-\ :-* :'( :-D :shock: :? 8-) :lol: :-x :-P :oops: :evil: :roll: :mrgreen:
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what about ply just on the outside of the hive
Paint's duty is to protect wood. If it is pure ply, it needs protection. Ply must be water resistant "canoe ply". Otherwise it will destroy outside. Construction of ply hive body is quite expencive and complicated. Mere ply is too thin as hive material.
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sorry i ment to say Polyurethane-- but htere was a typo-- but would Polyurethane work
hmmmm deep thoughts
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sorry i ment to say Polyurethane-- but htere was a typo-- but would Polyurethane work
hmmmm deep thoughts
Polyurethane hives need a single paint to protect against UV breakdown. I used a single spray by a Dust hower, that blow instead of such and a hobby paint sprayer. 20 years no change to the hive! If you use buildings Polyurethane you must be aware of that the bees can gnag it and birds like chickens love to pick it apart. :-)
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I am a bit of a clean freak. White. All my hives are white, it means to me pureness. I don't think there is anything more beautiful in this world than white, anything. I love colours though, don't get me wrong. Besides, I can see EVERYTHING with white hives. They stand out, in twilight and dawn, and even on a beautiful moonlit night. White reflects light, keeps the hives cooler than a dark colour, like Finsky says. Cool hives, keep the colours light. Period.
With white hives, I can see very clearly from a distance if there is a problem with too much heat, swarms emerging and so on, it allows to see what is going on around the colonies. Bees are dark and show up clearly against white background. White I shall stick with. If I wanted a little bit of colour just to spice things up, I would still leave the brood chambers white, the honey supers a different colour. My opinion and preference.
I like to paint a little picture on each colony's box, usually just a circle or square, in a different colour, just for fun, and maybe it helps the bees to orient to their own hive more easily, maybe, it probably makes for a better "target" for them when they come home weary and heavy from some hard work. LOL.
Have a great day, enjoy 2007. Cindi
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My polyuretane hives are a little bit yellow. The reason is that I went to village store and asked do they have spoiled paint can which I may bye cheaply. It was somehow yellow and that it was.
Even into polyuretane sun shines and make wall too warm. Last summer I noticed that my polystyrene nucs were too hot when sun shined to long wall.
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red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, white :-D i have only 7 hives of which only 5 are populated. if you plan on small beekeeping, it's great, far more easyer to remember the hive's strenght and other stuff. i always say "the greens are..."
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They are all made of pine here, from New Zealand mainly. All are painted white to minimise the overheating in summer.
The price of paint is very high here, a bit of a con job. What costs $4 to make sells for $40 its a rip off. I have only sprayed mine white, until I can track down some cheap paint. I have my eye out for a painter who likes honey!
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Mistints and what ever designs my kids want to paint those painted white and light yellow.
David
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I'm a house painter so I have paint anytime I use white
kirko
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I have painted my hives a very light grey. Wisconsin winters can be very harsh and the summers can be very hot and humid. A very brutal combination for wood, especially for a soft wood like Pine which will contract and expand alot with these extreme variations.
Instead of using different colors for the bodies, I have made stencils of a Triangle, Rectangle, Circle, Square and a Wavy Line. These I spray paint just above the hive entrance in black paint, each hive a different shape and no two hives with the same shapes near each other. Much easier to me than using color combinations and diagonals.
Since I painted buildings for almost 30 years, I can't help protecting my invesement. I use acrylic primer and three coats of semi-gloss paint on the exposed parts and two finish coats on the stacked edges. For me it cost $143.00 U.S. per hive. These are unassembled parts from Dadant. Commercial quality Two Deeps and Two Mediums with frames, foundations, Queen Excluder, Bottom Board, Inner Cover and Outer Telescoping Cover. I also water proof the top of the Masonite inner cover and the inner surface of the Bottom Board.
I did some figuring and it will cost me about $2.00 U.S. per hive for the materials and about 2 hours labor per hive complete for the painting and waterproofing. In the long run, I think this will pay for itself.
;) ;)
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I am a bit of a clean freak. White. All my hives are white, it means to me pureness. I don't think there is anything more beautiful in this world than white, anything. I love colours though, don't get me wrong. Besides, I can see EVERYTHING with white hives. They stand out, in twilight and dawn, and even on a beautiful moonlit night. White reflects light, keeps the hives cooler than a dark colour, like Finsky says. Cool hives, keep the colours light. Period.
With white hives, I can see very clearly from a distance if there is a problem with too much heat, swarms emerging and so on, it allows to see what is going on around the colonies. Bees are dark and show up clearly against white background. White I shall stick with. If I wanted a little bit of colour just to spice things up, I would still leave the brood chambers white, the honey supers a different colour. My opinion and preference.
I like to paint a little picture on each colony's box, usually just a circle or square, in a different colour, just for fun, and maybe it helps the bees to orient to their own hive more easily, maybe, it probably makes for a better "target" for them when they come home weary and heavy from some hard work. LOL.
Have a great day, enjoy 2007. Cindi
Cindi I like your thoughts on this. Very nice.
ps> I'm new around here and am starting my first colonies this spring.
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the main rule in hive colors, if you live where its hot paint in light colors, if you live where its cold paint in dark colors!!!!! the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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the main rule in hive colors, if you live where its hot paint in light colors, if you live where its cold paint in dark colors!!!!! the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why dont you use "warm colors". Warm colors are right in circle and "cold colors" on left.
By the way, when I nurse flowers, I love warm color palet.
(http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/psych115s/notes/lecture5/images/color14.jpg)
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good pic finsky, but whats the difference, you saying it like I did I think,......
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but whats the difference, you saying it like I did I think,......
I was not sure what you said, Herr Professor. You have not serious imago, you know :)
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you got it Bro, write colors are for hot weather and left colors are for cold weather. good graft!!!!!!
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you got it Bro, write colors are for hot weather and left colors are for cold weather. good graft!!!!!!
TWT, is almost mornig, you better to stop drinking and go to bed like other decent citizens.
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Oh brother, quit squabbling. Isn't the light colours good for all, if you really get down to it.
If you really want to get technical. Paint the hives dark for the cold months, paint them LIGHT for the hot months. All areas where bees are kept do get the "hot" sunny months, that has to be a given.
Anyways, painting between dark and white is supposed to be a joke. Why not leave them light all the time and then wrap with dark paper to keep heat in in the cold winter?
I actually don't understand the principle around wrapping the hives to keep it warmer. I get the impression that bees can live very comfortably in low low minus degrees and be just fine. It is not the hive that they are warming, it is the cluster. Besides, don't they just plain and simply consume less food when they are in a tigher cluster, that in my mind would be good because then there is less chance of starving. If one has the sugar board like Robo uses, then they always have access to food, so they don't ever have to break cluster if they need nourishment, nor would have to move their cluster very far to get at this food. Just some thoughts here, I'll await some comments that could offer some further insight or correction. Great day. Cindi
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I actually don't understand the principle around wrapping the hives to keep it warmer. I get the impression that bees can live very comfortably in low low minus degrees and be just fine.
I think that long, long ago there was anything else than black tar paper to protect hives.
I use white geotextile in winter against snow and wind. Back side is open that hive gets freash air. Result is good.
Black atempt bees oo early out and that is no advantage.
Black warm tarpaper and open mesh floor. Works fine at night. Our sun does not heat during 4 moths.
http://www.wallbarn.com/images/geotextile-pic1.jpg
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Finsky, I looked at the site of white geotextile. It appears that this is also used to warm the soil beneath a soil layer or something like that. Interesting concept. Great day. Cindi
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Finsky, I looked at the site of white geotextile. It appears that this is also used to ... something like that. Interesting concept. Great day. Cindi
It is used between two material layers that they do not mix together under weight. It is also said filtration textile. If it is needed to protect agaist heat conduction or frost, styrofoam plate is used. http://www.rakentaja.fi/Kuvat/Soklex/RR2004/Routaeriste-paikalleen.jpg
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OK, good to know, may implement it for some uses around here in the outside. Great day. Cindi
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Mine are white or pale yellow with blue stencils over the entrance. Left over housepaint. They still got hot in the summer and benefitted from a double screen cut into an inner cover, with no outer cover used.(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid205/p3f5f1ba2b90e94d31143727d0557ca6d/ef2f3771.jpg)
This hive houses australian stock.
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid214/p162c259cd5c4a11a511c9e9a01c5f9b2/ecff38be.jpg)
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BEE C , nice pic's
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BEE C, you have an interesting set up over there. One day, I gotta come over and see it. Talk to ya. Great day. Cindi
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Most of mine are white, but I decided to get fancy with one and painted it in some earth-tones. It will have a fair amount of afternoon shade so I'm not worried about the Sacramento heat. I'll post a photo once my posting rights are upgraded.
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All of my hive bodies and supers are white. I paint the tops and the bottoms what ever colors I can get from Lowe's that are mixed wrong . I pay 4 to 5 dollars a gallon. I have about 15 colors now.
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beige, but my husband has a theory about painting the inside of the telescoping cover...he says the composition board they use off gasses fermaldihide, so he told me I should paint the inside of the lid to keep the bees from beeing gased.
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When I painted my sunporch, I had a difficult time deciding on a paint color - sunporches are strange that way in that in the morning it looked one way and by sunset when the sun streams into the room, the color looks entirely different. So in trying to decide I went through about 8 different quarts of paint -
So my hives are painted from those quarts - yellows, peach colors, warm rosy beiges - when I run through all of that, I'll buy from the OOPS cart at Home Depot.
Linda T in Atlanta
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I get the free paint from my hazardous materials depo....most of it is from people who either order too much or order the wrong color. I got a real good beige Kelly Moore...heck of a deal...a free full gallon.
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Sandy, I honestly don't know if I would paint anything that is on the inside of the hives. Your husband may be right about the gasses released from the wood, but I think that paint inside the hive might be worse. I don't know for sure if paint inside does harm though. I just know that I will not/do not paint inside the hive. Have a beautiful day, great life, great health. Cindi
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thats what I told him but he says latex paint dries and does not give off any fumes, even when it burns. and since the bee's do not necessarily touch the top of the telescoping cover...well, I guess I will see...if the bee's take off I can blame him right?
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I've got this one that is going to be visible from the next county. . . :-D
(http://lennytaylor.freeyellow.com/orange03.jpg)
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LET-CA, now ain't that a thing of beauty!!!! What a lovely shade of orange, any specific reason that shade? Orange is beautiful. Have a beautiful day, great life, good health. Cindi
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Three of mine are painted white and one I did not paint at all. I do believe that I am not going to paint any more. The hive that is not painted is looking much better than the painted ones.
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LET-CA, now ain't that a thing of beauty!!!! What a lovely shade of orange, any specific reason that shade? Orange is beautiful. Have a beautiful day, great life, good health. Cindi
I found a gallon of "Tiggerific" at Home Depot in the Oops stack for $4. It's a Disney color. Nice semi-gloss exterior grade at $4. I couldn't pass it up!
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Just starting out. No paint for me. I like the natural look and think the bees do also.
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Are you sure its not Kubota orange?
http://www.kubota.com/f/products/bx.cfm
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Needs black stripes.
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I use bull frog green, white, battle ship gray, desert sand, no dark and sometime none.
doak