# Interesting Colors to Paint Hives and Supers



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I was wondering if anyone takes the "I want to be different" approach when finding a color to paint hives/supers??

I have some white ones, brown ones, and blue ones.

I just put together a lot of supers. Thinking of painting them yellow.

[ January 03, 2006, 12:13 AM: Message edited by: Chef Isaac ]


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

I have a bunch of pink boxes. It takes are real man, confident in his masculinity, to paint his hives pink:

http://www.sweettimeapiary.com/pics/open_hive_surgery.jpg

Thank goodness, I ran outa pink.


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## drobbins (Jun 1, 2005)

I happened to have 5 gallons of stuff they put on log buildings

http://www.drobbins.net/bee's/inspection/Dsc00729.jpg

I think it looks pretty nice
It's pricey though, I doubt I would have bought it just for hives, although, who knows, it should have good longevity

Dave


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

oh george you are quite pretty in pink...


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I have yellow, dark purple, medium blue, and dark forest green. After you move the boxes around a few times, you get some interesting combinations.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

i like purple. Maybe i will try that too


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I'm always painting tipi poles in the seven colors (Black, Red, Yellow, White, Green, Blue and Purple) and painting my tipi Red and Blue (the white is already there). The leftovers often get used for boxes except for the black. So there are all of those plus the mismatched paints, unpainted, untinted paint and the linseed oil.

I'd probably avoid DARK green and black because of the summer heat and solar gain. But every bright or light color seems to work fine.


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## chemistbert (Mar 4, 2004)

I am thinking camo personally. Some forest and some desert. Mainly I just like to mess with the guys who help me out with the bees. I could paint the bottom blue and the top grey and say it is for when they fly.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I really haven't seen alot of difference in the hives that are dark green and the others. With a little top venting, they all seem about the same to the bees.


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## REDTRACTOR1 (Dec 10, 2003)

I like to paint my hives red,white and blue. And some I just take a bunch of partialy filled cans of paint and mix them all together and make a new color. Bees don't care what color their hives are painted.
Dwight


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## Hillbillynursery (Nov 13, 2003)

What ever light color I find on the discount rack(normally mismatched but some times dented cans). In the store the color of this one can looked yellowish white, in the sun it was a light bright pink. I ended up mixing what was left of that gallon with a medium blue that ended up a light blue. I only ended up with about 5 boxes that were double coat of the original color which were repainted the next year. I got tired of the laughs from the pink hives.

Later, John


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

>oh george you are quite pretty in pink...

Oh you know it Tecumseh. And the hives are pretty too!


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Loggermike and I get our paint at the same place it seems. I am using the dipping tank now, but here are the colors I have been using.

http://members.cox.net/bullseyebees/_sgt/m1m2_1.htm


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

{It takes are real man, confident in his masculinity, to paint his hives pink:}

Yes because if the other beekeepers see them your lunch money is history!

I use a wide variety of colors too, Pink???


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## Hill's Hivery (Jan 7, 2005)

Mine are natural with 3-4 coats of poly on them to protect them.

Well, thats a lie! My Daughters help me paint them now and they have flowers and birds and....oh yeah Bees on them before I poly them. It is a great way to include my children in the hobby and they really enjoy helping Dad in the workshop!


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

so far I am leaning toward yellow, purple and... i need a third color...

not sure yet


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Dr. Tew, my prof at OSU/ATI, used to say that the best color to paint a bee hive was the one that you could get for the least amount of money. He said it better than I, but that's the jist. He told us to go to the paint store or hardware store of our choice and ask for their "Oops" paint. Oops paint is that paint that they got back or had mixed incorrectly. So it commonly sells for $5.00 per can. 

When I am in SC, and I find myself with not much to do for a day or two, I will often go to the store, buy some cans of paint, mix 4 of them together in a five gallon pail and paint hives with bees in them. Most of my hives are 6 to a pallet. So I have lots of hives that are freshly painted on one or two sides only.

Mark Berninghausen


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

>i need a third color...

Pink! No Blue! Yellow, Purple, and Blue! No Green!

Pink. Definitely pink. I bet you could do pink.


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## The anonymous buzzing bee (Jul 26, 2005)

>>My Daughters help me paint them now and they have flowers and birds and....oh yeah Bees on.

Sounds interesting - Any photos?


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

{So I have lots of hives that are freshly painted on one or two sides only.}

I wouldn't be able to sleep at night!


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

maybe pink...we will see. I was thinking red too but not so sure


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

{ was thinking red too but not so sure }

Which would be good so when you clean your copper hive tops with ketchup there'd be no stain if any spilled on the sides!

(hoped I'd forget about that didn't you!)


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## busybguy (Apr 28, 2005)

I have red, pink, purple, dark maroon, brown, blue, and yellow, whatever colors of "oops" paint the local hardware store has. The added advantage of multicolored hives, besides the aesthetic value, is that the bees aren't as prone to drifting if you stagger the colors.
My granddaughter thinks that every colorful hive she sees has to be mine.


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## FordGuy (Jul 10, 2005)

i've gone with coyote brown so as to not draw attention from nosy ne'r do wells. did I tell you i like privacy? haha.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

seems like a chef should choose colors based on the basic food groups.

personally I like to mix a bit of this and that oops paint so every batch is definitely unique. my current splash is a most interesting mix of pink and dark brown, warm but very earthy.


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## BaldyLocks (Apr 22, 2005)

I have stuck with painting mine white to have them look uniform and be more attractive to my neighbors who are interested in things looking "just right" (at least in their minds). If I ever get some "out hives", I will definitely go with cheap paint regardless of color but until then, I will keep up the white...


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## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

So far all mine are winter camo--white!


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Ok ok ok....

I got paint tonight!!! I bought purple, green, and orange......

yup..... I got orange... he he he


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Good deal Chef. Orange works. I could do orange. I for one, with my pink hives, will not laugh at you. Near you perhaps, but not at you.


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

> I have a bunch of pink boxes.


George, get rid of the pink! I found this on the internet! Since it was on the internet, it has to be true. 

From the chapter on vision in Ronald Ribands The Behaviour and Social Life of Honeybees:

[Koch, P. (1934)] reported that he had kept 28 colonies in one apiary for 14 years, and that during this time the hives had always been painted six different colours. The average honey yields from the differently coloured hives had shown consistent differences, thus: dark blue 48 1/2 lb., black 42 lb., brown 40 lb., white 26 1/2 lb., light green 22 lb., *pink 21 lb*. This result indicates that bees had shown a preference for darker-coloured hives and had drifted to these from the others. In Europe, where colonies are usually kept close together in beehouses, the painting of hives is frequently advocated in order to help the bees to identify their own hive; Kochs results demonstrate that this system can have disadvantages.


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## newbee 101 (May 26, 2004)

Being a painting contractor, I have lots of free paint. I started with white (1 hive), and have continued with white. (9 total for 2006) It seems to work for me.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

But if they're ALL pink they won't drift...


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

Good Point!!!


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## MichaelW (Jun 1, 2005)

Where did Koch keep bees? Maybe the dark colors warmed up the hives ealier in the season allowing for stronger spring buildup. 

I'm going to paint the south side of my hives black to try and get the brood rearing fired up the first of Feb. 

Note the idea was partially Michael Bush's

As the sun changes position by summer, theoretically, the black part will not recieve much direct sunlight.

I like the rotation idea too. I think I'll go in a clockwise direction.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I went back to the paint shop last night and got yellow and black. Yesterday, I painted some supers green and some orange. I really like to orange. they turned out cool looking. Of course, I have two more coats to do. 

Yellow should be cool. Black will be interesting. He he !


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## Dick Allen (Sep 4, 2004)

> Maybe the dark colors warmed up the hives earlier in the season allowing for stronger spring buildup.


That could be possible, but the paragraph mentions drifting occurred. It doesn't seem solar gain would be influencing drifting, but who knows. 

The colors listed were consistent in their honey yields.

Dark blue had the highest yield. Bees are most sensitive to ultraviolet. It wouldn't surprise me to find that a hive painted with something reflecting UV actually yielded the most. * Studies have shown * * Bees sensitivities to other colors decreases in the order of blue-violet, green, yellow, blue-green, and orange. Graphs of color sensitivity in bee vision show peaks in the UV region, the blue region, and in a region between blue-green and yellow. 

* * Internet beekeepers dearly love using that phrase, don't they?*









[ January 08, 2006, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: Dick Allen ]


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## Robert Hawkins (May 27, 2005)

ISAAC!!! Did you notice the only one encouraging you is the guy with the PINK hives? 

Actually I think different colors and markings on the hive do dampen the drifting. Tight above the entrance I put a greek letter. The bees memorize their sorority and can find they're way home.

Hawk


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

You know Robert, I agree with you. I have read a lot of info about bees orienting themselves with color and objects plus it is fun for me and my wife to paint together. 

I do enjoy the winter duties!


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## Jeff McGuire (Nov 18, 2005)

Hawk If you have Italian bees they may be offended by the greek letters of ourse thats assuming they read greek.


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## Brian Suchan (Apr 6, 2005)

Is it just me I would say those "pink" boxes are alot closer to red in color. We have almost every color under the sun in our outfit after 20+ years of buying mismatches & Cheap paint


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## chief (Apr 19, 2005)

I just bought my paint at a discount hardware store. It was oops Sherman Williams exterior paint at $25 for a 5 gallon bucket. That seemed very reasonable to me. The color was labeled as Pacific Sands. It is kind of light brownish beige. It wasnt pink but it does have a hint of pinkish color in the right light. My other equipment is white, light green, silver, darker green, and barely discernible anymore.

[ January 11, 2006, 10:50 PM: Message edited by: chief ]


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## tree_entz (Jan 11, 2006)

hmm..interesting stuff. Currently, all of my hive bodies are white. As i've made more of my own equiptment these last couple years I have used some other colors though, cause it's what I have around. 
-my hive top feeders a sky blue which contrasts well w/ the rest of the hive, and reminds me to check the syrup reservoir

-my hive stands are a dark green. My reasoning for this is that it helps w/ solar gain, providing a warm place for bees to start the day.

A question: Since I am in a very northern zone, would I have to worry about unwanted solar gain in the hive bodies from dark colors? Yes, we do get warm weather here, but not a whole lot. I'd have to wonder if there would be gains during the transition seasons.


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## buz (Dec 8, 2005)

One unmentioned advantage to oddly painted boxes--they'd be much less likely to up and move during the night. There's been some disappearings acts in beeyards out and around the Phoenix area. As for me, doesn't seem to matter how much color I put on the boxes--the sun fades it out first season.


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## Blue.eyed.Wolf (Oct 3, 2005)

Mine are....you guessed it ....BLUE!

The girls seem to like it, painting day creates a lot of attention.


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## Laurence Hope (Aug 24, 2005)

<Mine are....you guessed it ....BLUE!>

Are you getting super yields that may be attributed to blue? If so, I'm heading to the paint store. Seriously, though, has anyone got any personal verification of the difference in yield by color range?


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## chief (Apr 19, 2005)

tree_entz,

Up here in the northwest I see a lot of beekeepers with dark colored hives. On the west side of Washington it rarely gets very hot and its even rarer that we get much sun. There is also the problem of too much shade with pine trees and brush everywhere. Its hard to find a yard that doesnt have shade for at least part of the day. I think it is best for our bees to soak up as much sun as they can get when they can get it!


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## RonS (Dec 28, 2004)

George,

Painted mine white, because I am a traditional kind of guy, but your pink looks good. Actually, it is more fuchsia.

I am adding some hive boxes in hope of capturing some Spring swarms. Time to branch out into the color chart.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

orange looks great...so does black!


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

{Actually, it is more fuchsia.}

Oh yea, encourage him! Pretty cretive writing though. Next we'll be hearing words like muave and chartruse!

[ January 13, 2006, 11:36 PM: Message edited by: Joel ]


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Oh yea, encourage me! Not that I need it. I'm outa that fuchsia pink stuff thank goodness and most of the pink boxes are pretty old and will be turned into swarm traps or kindling before long.


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