Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: manowar422 on December 14, 2004, 05:09:11 pm
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I have plunged headlong into the world of sunshine and honey. Yesterday I ordered a select pine hive body and two medium supers from bee-commerce. Also picked out a cypress base, bottom board and inner cover. They are currently runing a 10% off sale 8)
I will make my own cover (I have some ideas about venting for the Texas heat and torrential spring rains)
I finally made a decision about buying or building last weekend when shopping materials at the local DIY warehouse. I almost had a heart attack when I found a 10' length of 1 X 10 was just over $20 with tax :o
I obviously have not purchased lumber in a good while so it came as a big shock to me.
Although I have the tools and know-how to produce the boxes, prices on the web are so close to hand made, I thought my time would be better spent studying instead of picking sawdust from my beard :lol:
I'll spend the winter putting the boxes together, then sand and paint them to a nice weather-tight finish. Should the paint be flat, semi-gloss, or gloss?
Should I paint the insides of the boxes? The frames too?
Buying tools, protective clothing, meds and such will come in next 100 days. I find my excitement growing as the days pass, this will probably be a long winter. I guess beekeeping brings new meaning to the term "spring fever"
I'd like to wish everyone here on the forum, and their families happy holidays and a healthy new year!
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I'll spend the winter putting the boxes together, then sand and paint them to a nice weather-tight finish. Should the paint be flat, semi-gloss, or gloss?
Should I paint the insides of the boxes? The frames too?
I'd like to wish everyone here on the forum, and their families happy holidays and a healthy new year!
Thank you! And many happy returns of the day to you and yours! :D
As far as the finish of the paint, the bees won't care if it is flat, semi or otherwise. So go with what you like! As far as what to paint there seems to be mixed opinion on this ( big suprise huh? ).
If you go by the BeeSource.com plans, they tell you and I quote - Fill any holes and paint all surfaces, both outside and inside and top and bottom edges, with two coats of paint.
Here is an exerpt from Beekeeping a Practical Guide by Richard E. Bonney - Traditional wisdom says not to paint any inside surface of the hive because the bees don't like it. Take this with a grain of salt. Bees do not object to paint if it is dry and has weathered long enough for odors to dissipate. As a practical matter, I paint the entire bottom board and outer cover. Both of these take abuse from the bees, from the beekeeper, and from the weather. I do not paint any part of the frames or the inner cover. I paint only those surfaces of the hive bodies and supers that are exposed to the weather. Some beekeepers paint the inner cover and the inner surfaces of hive bodies and supers with no apparent ill effects. ( Again, it is important that the paint be thoroughly dry and the odors dissipated before the equipment is given to the bees.)
White is the traditional color for painting hives--it has the advantage of reflecting the sun and helps to keep the hive a little cooler in very hot weather. Dark colors absorb sunlight and can cause the hive to overheat. A disadvantage of white is that the hive stands out starkly against the landscape, making it a more likely target for vandalism or theft. Actually, any light color is satisfactory. I use light green, which helps to comouflage my hives. If your bees are in your own backyard, theft or vandalism probably are not a problem, but if you have outyards, give color and other means of camoujlage some thought.
Hope this helps and again, have a wonderful holiday season! :D
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I finally made a decision about buying or building last weekend when shopping materials at the local DIY warehouse. I almost had a heart attack when I found a 10' length of 1 X 10 was just over $20 with tax :o
I obviously have not purchased lumber in a good while so it came as a big shock to me.
Although I have the tools and know-how to produce the boxes, prices on the web are so close to hand made, I thought my time would be better spent studying instead of picking sawdust from my beard :lol:
I know what you mean about high priced lumber, I find it is cheaper to buy from the supply dealers with the wood already cut , and shipping makes it cost a little less with out my labor. now i could build hives out of plywood but i want them to last.
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page6.htm
i buy the commercial brand.
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I just finished reading Beekeeping for Dummies and it says to not paint the inside of the supers or frames--just outside parts of the hive.
On the otherhand, people have been painting inside for quite sometime and the bees have been ok. Perhaps a coat inside can help protect the hive from the beating the bees give it with their propolis etc.
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:D First off happy holidays to you also.
:) As for paint, I my self use stain. :shock: Resently I went to the local Lowe's and got 4 gallons of stain mixed wrong so got the oops price of $5.00 a gallon. On top of that Olimpic had a rebate deal going on of $3.00 a gallon and I just got that back from them yesterday.
I like stain because it soaks into the wood fibers and still protects the wood as good as paint. It never peels, just fades. As for colors I use a dark brown, possiable if you worry about summer time temps you would like to use a lite color stain such as lite gray or pink even :D :D . I had planed on using the lite gray on mine till I found the brown so cheap and the bees don't seem to mind the color. They have the insides totally coated with wax residue after two seasons on my first hives and one season on the remaining ones.
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid124/pfadeb5a139488f9ce67e31be5db5cb21/f80f2fef.jpg)
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid148/p6b3ba6305988fd0f5e9368f6f57d1e13/f61a616e.jpg)
It is starting to look a lot like Christmas here, HO HO HO Merry Christmas every body:lol:
(http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid148/pda7c67dde58f2726c78793be016c4904/f620736a.jpg)
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I like the look of the stain, quite nice indeed. bye
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Those hives look fantastic!! Best of all, when the stain starts to fade, just slap on another coat. No scraping off peeling paint!
I was wondering, do you have much problem with drifting, with 5 in a row like that?
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Trail Twister,
Your pictures brought back memories. I had forgotten how big those late fall snowflakes could get in MI. I moved away in '78 to escape that type of weather. Still go back every now and then to visit family still living just north of Marshall. Are you located close enough to L. Michigan to get some of that Lake Effect snowfall. BTW I do kinda like the look of those stained hives of your's.
Thanks for everyones in-put on the future paint job, as always it's cool to witness the community at their best. The more I hang out here the more I like it :)
David
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We live about an hour from Lake Huron so don't get the lake effect snows. We do benifit from the cooling effect of Lake Huron in the summer. The walleye from there taste good too :) .
Not sure about the drifting question?? Snow or the bees going from hive to hive???
This will be the first winter for the hives where they are now. It is at the edge of a drive I use during the winter so the front of the south faceing hives will get plowd out when I need to plow snow. The girls seem to know their own hive, but I do need to spread them out a bit more.
That project is just waiting now for a bit more snow to insulate the ground so I can dig holes for the piers to set in.
:D Al