# What is the obsession with WHITE???



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Try working some "hot" bees with some spot of dark on your suit. The dark spot will be covered in stings while the white parts have almost none. I'm more likely to get stung in an area on my blue jeans than on my white jacket at any time. Dark is not a good color to wear to work bees. As for the boxes, I think most people chose white at one time (and a lot still do) because it's cooler in the summer and there is something more appealing to some people about a lot of uniform colored boxes rather than a lot of different colors. Mine, of course, are a lot of different colors from back when I was still painting...


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## orthoman (Feb 23, 2013)

I just use whatever is available. Lots of my hives are white -- or off white but I also have a rainbow of colors with no real pattern. 

Was just at the paint store yesterday to see what "miss-tints" they had as often I can buy a gallon of pretty good quality exterior paint for as little as $5.00 -- I just don't have my choice of colors to pick from. If I don't like what they have, I might not buy anything -- or I can buy it and mix it with another color and come up with something different.

I kind of like the neatness of all one color such as white; however, mixing it up a little bit does make it more interesting and helps me keep track of boxes.


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## Moots (Nov 26, 2012)

Rather-b-beekeeping said:


> I've always wondered why "white" has become so universally standard in both bee-hive color choices and bee-suite colors. I know the "dogma" about dark colors bothering bees and potentially causing them to associate the beekeeper as a predator. However, I do a lot of queen rearing and often work my bees in a short sleeve t-shirt and a veil (usually no gloves). Often I wear a dark blue and sometimes even black t-shirt. Honestly, I don't think that color is as big a deal as we make about it. Plus, why would you want to have a white suite when it would just get dirty the first time you "really" work bees?
> 
> Also, hive color? Isn't white just boring? I rarely paint my hives white anymore. Yes, *I've heard that white supposedly absorbs less heat and keeps the colony cooler*, so maybe black wouldn't be the first choice! But there are still lots of other color choices that can be light pastels etc.
> 
> Anyone else ever wonder about this???


*** emphasis added*

No "supposedly" about it, the science has long been in on this one, it's a fact! 

That being said, it doesn't keep me up nights but I agree with what you're saying. I've heard very experience Beeks say before that they really don't buy the "dark colored" clothing being a problem argument. I think it probably makes some sense for those in extremely warm climates to avoid the dark colored hive bodies, other than that, paint them whatever color you'd like....most folks I know do.

My wife picked out a lovely shade of light blue for my hives, which is so light, you'd swear it's white unless you're holding something "true white" next to it. LOL!  I really didn't get the point, but you know what they say, "Happy wife, Happy life".


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

I personally think the color scheme is a deep reflection of the soul of the beekeeper... How it reflects is a question I can not answer and wisely shall not answer. 

Around me the scheme tells me from afar whose is what.

Keith Jarrett : Blue
John Foster: Yellow
Strachan's: Some form of green
Myself: All new deeps are going gloss white with bright yellow handles. All shallow honey supers are Blue. All Ross rounds are green. All cut comb 5 11/16th's are a shade of white. 
Another unnamed neighbor uses the puke colored mismatches sold at $5 a gallon. 
A newbie nearby who uses the inroad that he's "doing it for his daughter" uses pink (yuk)
The other day heading north I did see some bright Orange ones: My wife's comment was " those sure stand out." All I thought was: "interesting" and "not my color. "

As per the suggestion that black ought to be used more often than white to absorb more heat.......... All I can surmise is that you have never pulled honey on a 110 degree August day previously. 

Around here it would be the color of death as well as the sign of the guy with no brains and if its summer "no bees."


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

True Micheal, I guess when working "hot" colonies it may make some difference, but I generally don't keep "hot" colonies in my yards or breeding program. At the least it would just seem more practical if the commercially offered colors weren't white because they don't stay white...LOL!


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Funny! The soul of the beekeeper!

I really like your idea of coding colors to super type. I have done that with my top feeders. All 25, or so, are a gray color. I use a lot of color variation with my nucs. I try paint different color triangles on the front faces to help with orientation. I think it adds character to a yard (-the yuk colors).....LOL!

Maybe I didn't write it clearly. I wasn't suggesting that black should be used, just that more colors should be considered.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Dirty white beekeepers protective clothing shows "experience". (Typically) Brilliant white= newbee..... 
Taupy grey= seasoned. Mine was white years ago. 

When I do buy a new brilliant white suit, it stays that way for about three months. lol


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I have no experience yet ... the all white inspection jacket, and the painters pants and socks to go with it, are as yet spotlessly white. Hopefully we'll correct that tomorrow, when our newly-assigned mentor shows us his hives.

That mentor will probably be wearing an inspection jacket and blue jeans. We met him last night and he showed up in the same jeans he had been wearing to inspect hives a couple of hours earlier. He said black should be avoided, but blue jeans are OK. But then he pointed to a couple of dings on the jeans ... stingers still imbedded in them from his inspections, and admitted that he does tend to find bees down in the pockets, etc.

Realizing they are only bees, and they'll make more, and losses are unavoidable, I still have a soft spot in my heart for the girls. I'll try not to crush any, though I know I will. I'll also try to avoid provoking any stinging of dark fabric.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

back a hundred years ago or so barn paint came in white lead or red lead colors. the slightly more expensive white made for cooler summer hives, this helped production, overwintering had less problems then...later inexpensive silver grain bin/roof paint became popular. the silver paint had asphalt mixed in, it was cheap and held up well.... today we as creatures of habit and like white.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Mr.Beeman said:


> Dirty white beekeepers protective clothing shows "experience". (Typically) Brilliant white= newbee.....
> Taupy grey= seasoned. Mine was white years ago.
> 
> When I do buy a new brilliant white suit, it stays that way for about three months. lol


LOL! Very true. When I sell nucs I sometimes offer a learning session. You can easily pick out the newbies with the shiny white suits. I honestly hate to wear mine unless there is a real reason to wear it. I often refer to it as the sweat suit....LOL!


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

While the hive color may not be an issue, the color of attire while opening a hive certainly IS. We had as a guest speaker a guy who had a lot of great photos from his trip to Kenya, visiting with the local beeks. Most of their "hives" there are logs (literally), which the bees occupy. He was working with the locals wearing a very high quality suit, but had put a black object (small log book or something) in the breast pocket. Dozens of bees attacked that thing. He was somewhat unnerved, so he pulled it out of his pocket and tossed it on the ground. The attack abated very quickly.

I either wear white, or a medium olive collared shirt, which seems to be rather neutral to the bees. Some land on it, but none ever attack it. I am thinking of painting some hives that color, more because it tends to blend in with the natural surroundings and be less visible to people.

Phil


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

Honey-4-All said:


> I personally think the color scheme is a deep reflection of the soul of the beekeeper...


Lucky I live in a cool climate. I get to have dark hive colors:










Not a drinker, but I like my adult life, old time photos, etc. Ya, that bottle is full of honey...










Below is dark walnut stain sealed with spar urethane.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Lauri, those are gorgeous ... but honestly, masking tape name labels on furniture-grade hives!?? You need an upgrade to brass nameplates.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

It is "interesting" to see that nice new white bee jacket with hood or hat speckled with the yellow rain from the package of bees you just installed.


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## brettj777 (Feb 27, 2013)

I painted all of my hives a light green. Hopefully it's light enough to be reflective, and I think it looks nice to have some color! I bought a decent outdoor latex/primer in one, we will see how long it lasts!!!


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## matthewstiles (Jun 4, 2013)

Honey-4-All said:


> Another unnamed neighbor uses the puke colored mismatches sold at $5 a gallon.


That's me! Although I've been able to stick with off whites thus far I have no qualms with using whatever is cheapest.


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## The Valley (Jan 21, 2014)

I started with a pale yellow, and this year decided to start experimenting with new hives I am getting ready. Here is a new one stained with two different stains and then spar varnished.


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## newbeeguy (Feb 20, 2014)

Does anyone have a good answer to the question, what kind of paint is best for a hive, aside from color? I have seen bees pulling bits of outdoor latex apparently to use like propolis. Oh, and some of my bee books say to only paint the outside of the hive, and some say to paint the inside as well. I am building my first Langstroth hive and need to know what is the consensus for best practice.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Contamination issues aside, the bees will paint the inside bee-spit brown in any case. Why fight their decorating tastes?


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## Teal (Jan 30, 2014)

While white is one of my favorite colors, I will be painting my hives decoratively, and colorfully  And hopefully...soonly! LOL.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Not a drinker, but I like my adult life, old time photos, etc. Ya, that bottle is full of honey...

At one time it was full of something else! My favorite as well. Shhhhh don't tell anyone.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

The 5 gallon bucket of pink exterior sat in Home Depot for a long time before I bought it. I can't imagine why, the nucs will complement my nice new white watch perfectly...


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Ask your mother. White can be bleached so it is easiest to get clean. How many people wear brown underwear?


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## cryptobrian (Jan 22, 2012)

My white hives are white because that's the color of primer. Never got around to putting a final coat on ... but when I do find the time:









I did this one last year.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Lauri said:


> Lucky I live in a cool climate. I get to have dark hive colors:
> 
> 
> Not a drinker, but I like my adult life, old time photos, etc. Ya, that bottle is full of honey...
> ...


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

Acebird said:


> How many people wear brown underwear?


Do you really want to ask that question?


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

The history of white bee suits is actually quite simple and brian is on the right track. When beekeepers started wearing full body suits the only manufactured full garment available was Painter's coveralls. (also no coincidence that hive tools were also originally painters tools.) At the time it was also popular to paint things with whitewash because it was easy to make where ever you needed it. So painters suits were white so the whitewash would not show on it and they always looked clean.

So beekeepers adopted the white full body suit and beehives were painted white with whitewash... Today beehives are still white and so are the inside walls of dairy barns, most wooden churches, picket fences... etc. 

Ben Franklin first did experiments on color and heat in the 1730s, but it wasn't published until 1943 by Bernard Cohen after he discovered some writings by Franklin on the topic. Prior to 1947 the relationship between color and light was unknown. 

The color has nothing to do with temperature.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

bluegrass said:


> The history of white bee suits is actually quite simple and brian is on the right track. When beekeepers started wearing full body suits the only manufactured full garment available was Painter's coveralls. (also no coincidence that hive tools were also originally painters tools.) At the time it was also popular to paint things with whitewash because it was easy to make where ever you needed it. So painters suits were white so the whitewash would not show on it and they always looked clean.
> 
> So beekeepers adopted the white full body suit and beehives were painted white with whitewash... Today beehives are still white and so are the inside walls of dairy barns, most wooden churches, picket fences... etc.
> 
> ...



Thanks Bluegrass! It is interesting to hear about the history behind the "White."


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## urbanoutlaw (Nov 19, 2012)

cryptobrian said:


> My white hives are white because that's the color of primer. Never got around to putting a final coat on ... but when I do find the time:
> 
> View attachment 9295
> 
> ...


I LOVE your dirt block! I don't have the patience to do anything like this, although I really wanted a Tardis hive.

Just bought a can of light grey to repaint a bunch of used brood boxes. It drives me nuts to have mismatched stuff. I think I'll repaint the honey supers a complementary shade of blue.


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## rhaldridge (Dec 17, 2012)

I don't know if this is true, but I've somehow gained the impression that bees can use color and shapes to identify their own hive-- seems as if I remember seeing mating nucs painted in different colors and patterns.

Evidently, I'm no slave to convention:


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## cryptobrian (Jan 22, 2012)

urbanoutlaw said:


> I LOVE your dirt block!


Thanks! My son has been pushing for more minecraft hive bodies, gold, diamond, etc. But I actually have been thinking Tardis after seeing one that another beekeeper made. And I think the Tardis would be a lot easier. We are also building a top bar hive this year and discovering that they are called "honey cows" in some parts, I'm pretty sure we are going to need to paint one white with block spots.

;-)


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

rhaldridge said:


> I don't know if this is true, but I've somehow gained the impression that bees can use color and shapes to identify their own hive-- seems as if I remember seeing mating nucs painted in different colors and patterns.
> 
> Evidently, I'm no slave to convention:
> 
> View attachment 9297


Our two hives are both painted almond, and a quart was about enough. We've been told we can affix uniquely shaped and colored tags to help the bees identify their hives and avoid drifting. But we were also advised to make the tags with tabs so they can be swapped between hives. This presumably allows you to sneak a few workers over to a weaker hive. As I understand bee bouncer behavior, you're welcome in if you brought groceries.

So I was going to use card symbols: hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs, so the queens could be queens of something. Then I learned the bees can't distinguish red as a color. We'll come up with something cute, probably in green and yellow painted aluminum flashing.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

snl said:


> Do you really want to ask that question?


Well I was thinking before you put them on...

I had a thought but it has escaped me now... Oh yeah, If you move a hive the bees will find it. Are they looking for color or are they following the smell? What the bee sees is not what we see so what difference does color make?

However when I was a total green horn I knew nothing about moving a hive and assumed the bees would follow it no matter where I placed it. I moved a hive 50 or so feet and had my 600 ford tractor between the old location and the new location. They liked the tractor which is predominantly fire engine red much more than the white hive. So if I was all about color for the bees I would paint my hives fire engine red. How that would work out for multiple hives I have no idea. You can get red barn paint from HD dirt cheap in 5 gallon pails that you can use to hold your covers on in 60 mph winds when you use it all up.:thumbsup:


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

My buddies save me all their good bottles. Crown Royal's are the best. The ' Adult' honey jar...


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## The Valley (Jan 21, 2014)

Thank you, now I know what those old Appleton's and Captain Morgan Private stock bottles have been kept for!
Excellent!


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

Acebird said:


> Well I was thinking before you put them on...
> 
> I had a thought but it has escaped me now... Oh yeah, If you move a hive the bees will find it. Are they looking for color or are they following the smell? What the bee sees is not what we see so what difference does color make?
> 
> However when I was a total green horn I knew nothing about moving a hive and assumed the bees would follow it no matter where I placed it. I moved a hive 50 or so feet and had my 600 ford tractor between the old location and the new location. They liked the tractor which is predominantly fire engine red much more than the white hive. So if I was all about color for the bees I would paint my hives fire engine red.


How long was the tractor parked there? It likely was their landmark and when the hive moved they were reorienting off of the tractor to try and find it. Have you ever seen the pink flamingo/garden gnome experiment? A hive is placed with a bunch of garden decorations around it in a circle. After the bees are oriented for awhile the garden gnomes and flamingos get moved to another spot away from the hive, but placed in a circle in the same order. The bees still fly to that location even though the hive didn't move.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

bluegrass said:


> How long was the tractor parked there?


Not long. After I move the hive I moved the tractor into the woods towards the old location to get it away from the hive. My shock was when I came back a few hours later and saw the tractor covered in bees. I made the loader out of 2x6 tubular steel and they were clustering inside the tubing. We had no idea what was going on so my wife headed for google and then we found out about moving a hive. the hive was already on a wheeled cart so I brought it back as close to the old location as I could but the tractor was in the way. So it spent the night next to the tractor. better than half the bees stayed with the tractor for the night and by mid day they found the hive. Then it was baby steps to move it 100 feet. Close call for our first blooper.


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## GLOCK (Dec 29, 2009)

I think white is one color I don't have as a hive.
I like black works well in these parts I use a black stain .

I have many colors but from this point forward all my hives will be black . 
 Guess I am just one them dark people that likes the color black.
 My bee suit will never be white again.
I must never had mean bees yet I always sit and read and watch my beeyards and I where black with no real problems.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Anyone else ever wonder about this??? 

Surely, I got my first 3 on my right hand after wearing a pairs of black glove on a hive check today. Usually I wear the white goat skin thick gloves. But decided to test this claim that bees don't like black color. Humm, next time I know what to do.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

rhaldridge said:


> I don't know if this is true, but I've somehow gained the impression that bees can use color and shapes to identify their own hive-- seems as if I remember seeing mating nucs painted in different colors and patterns.
> 
> Evidently, I'm no slave to convention:
> 
> View attachment 9297


This is true, though the pallet of color that bees can see, is different than the one we see. And they can see some spectra that we can't, but also see those that we see, differently.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

Many of my hives and nucs are painted with oops paint. I have fifty or so cans of this paint, about half of those are quarts, and half are gallons. I like using bright, pastel shades, when I paint, though I use other colors, too. Only about half of my supers are actually painted, many are just aged and weathered wood.

I will admit that one of my favorite hive colors, are the few I painted with an oops that was bubblegum pink. Some others are a bright international orange.


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## MichaBees (Sep 26, 2010)

I have an Africanized bee yard at an orphanage we run in Mexico. We teach kids about bees and other agricultural trades. 
One day, I decided that I was working my hives just on a hooded jacket, had blue jeans, white socks and black shoes. 

I got a few stings on my feet, then I turn to see; my black shoes were covered with hundreds of bees! and some 20 + were successful at stinging me close to my shoes. 

Yes, aggressive bees love to attack anything black.
A while back, I visited Oaxaca state, and I just loved the colors used on everything there. I came back home and painted all my hives with the Oaxaca color skim. 
Colors do not matter to bees I guess, but I do know that dark color hives gain so much heat from our desert sun, that it just make it impossible to work those hives after 11:00 AM. I run lots of foundationless frames, so you have to work them when the sun is still low on the horizon. 

Any new wood I get, it will get a white paint or it will be treated with wax/rosin; no fancy colors for me anymore.


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## mark williams (Jan 19, 2003)

BEE'S don't like black,,,First of this week we had a day that was in the low 60's,I was at home so decided to replace a hive that was starting to rot,
Anyway I've got two small dog's that was with me. One solid white & the other black & white,(mostly black),
When I opened the hive. The bees run the black one off,They never did bother the white one the hole time we was out there.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Bees attack dark colors because stinging intruders around the eyes is the most effective way to get them to leave, and the largest predators of wild honey bee hives (remember, they are up in trees as rule) is bears. 

You should also remember than bees can recognize faces and count to three (most times), so if you are around the hives on a regular basis the foragers will "know" you, but not someone else. I suspect this is why by brother got nailed in the face three times one day when he stopped over while I had my hives open for some reason. They were not buzzing me, pretty much ignored me completely, but went after him 50 ft away.

As far as color and solar heating, I don't think this was a mystery before 1943. Probably know for at least as long as people have been painting things, and that's quite a long time. 

Whitewash was the cheapest paint for centuries, and as a result became the default color for bee hives, just like it is for houses and fences. Modern paints are still cheapest without color tint if you are buying large quantities (for a single gallon the color is "free", meaning you are paying for it even it you don't color it), but the color doesn't matter so long as it's not so dark you give the bees too much work keeping the hive cool in summer. In fact, darker is probably better so long as the bees can keep the hive regulated, as the higher heat at the inner surface will help control SHB.

If you find you need shade boards to keep from overheating your hives, stick with white paint, but otherwise any light color is fine. Varied colors and geometric shapes will indeed help the bees find home, but remember they can only count to three. That means that they will get lost if there are more than three or four hives close together in a row, and will beg in at one of the outer ones.

Peter


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## CLICKBANGBANG (Feb 3, 2013)

As much as I sweat in a white suite, I'm not wearing any other color. 

Hive temp. In Jan at 10:30 AM with only 2 hours and 15 min of sunlight and an air temp of 51 deg, the face of the box pointing towards the sun was 72 deg and the back of the box was 46 deg. Reading later in the day at 1:40 PM with air temp at 62 deg the box side facing the sun was over 80 deg and the back was 58 deg. I'll take more readings when it gets a little warmer this spring and more when it's in the heat of summer. On 110 deg days, I'm betting th a white box is 130 deg and a black box would be over 150. Just a guess on those numbers so far. But I'm betting the hive would start having brood losses from those temps.


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## Snookie (Dec 13, 2013)

A Cammo/ Pink is my next project to fulfill my lady friends request lol

I like dis me:}








[/url] how do i print screen[/IMG]


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## Falesh (Feb 16, 2014)

CLICKBANGBANG said:


> As much as I sweat in a white suite, I'm not wearing any other color.
> 
> Hive temp. In Jan at 10:30 AM with only 2 hours and 15 min of sunlight and an air temp of 51 deg, the face of the box pointing towards the sun was 72 deg and the back of the box was 46 deg. Reading later in the day at 1:40 PM with air temp at 62 deg the box side facing the sun was over 80 deg and the back was 58 deg. I'll take more readings when it gets a little warmer this spring and more when it's in the heat of summer. On 110 deg days, I'm betting th a white box is 130 deg and a black box would be over 150. Just a guess on those numbers so far. But I'm betting the hive would start having brood losses from those temps.


I would love to see some evidence that dark coloured hives are hotter then light ones. There are plenty of opinions one way or the other but I haven't managed to fine any actual evidence for either argument. Common sense seems to indicate that dark coloured hives should be hotter, but then again there are plenty of people living in deserts that dress in black to help them cope with the heat.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

My test was with a light colored hive and a black one. Thermometer sitting inside these two empty hives, directly on the bottom board. Early morning in freezing temps when the sun was out, the black hive was 20 degrees warmer than the light colored hive. Both thermometers were previously synchronized so they were identical.

My hives are usually light colored on the sides and black on the front and back. Summertime they are separated and the light sides help with reflective qualities, but wintertime they are clustered together with foam insulation in between. Black front and back exposed to some solar influence.
I want to keep them reasonable cool and inactive over winter. I feel this method allows for moderatly controlled interior temp. I'm looking for interior stability, no temp fluctuation extremes.
My climate rarely gets over 90 degrees in summer months. More like 75. Winters are fairly mild averaging 30-40 with bouts of temps in the single digets.




























I am doing a test on full insulating wraps and will give a report when winter is over. As I expected, these hives are not influenced by sunny periods and are more inactive than the exposed hives. They are chocked full of bees are are overwintering well. Some of my best hives were the inactive ones that were located in the shade of the winter sun. While all those bees look good to the beekeeper on sunny days, every time they fly like crazy, they shorten their life span. In cooler Northern climates where winter can extend well into spring, young bees going into winter and inactive bees during winter is importaint in my opinion. This wrap is not for keeping the warm. It is for keeping the hive a more stable interior temp. during temp extremes.




























This insulation was some scraps from our metal barn roof. It is has a heavy fiberglass reinforced backing. If I lives in Minnesota or some of the Polar Vortex states, I would be wrapping my hives like this. Those temps you have had to contend with this year make me cringe.

I feed my bees in fall so I am sure they cluster on/around open feed. This is a fairly current wintertime photo.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

If you want to do these measurement, consider building an inexpensive pyranometer so you will have a sunlight intensity value to compare your results to:

http://www.instesre.org/construction/pyranometer/pyranometer.htm

This would also be good data if you are recording bee activity, honeyflow, etc.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I would love to see some evidence that dark coloured hives are hotter then light ones. There are plenty of opinions one way or the other but I haven't managed to fine any actual evidence for either argument. Common sense seems to indicate that dark coloured hives should be hotter, but then again there are plenty of people living in deserts that dress in black to help them cope with the heat. 

There is no doubt that white is cooler in the sun and black is cooler in the shade. Black absorbs more heat from the sun by a significant amount. It also dissapated heat better. White reflects heat from the sun and it also refects heat back into the hive. But the temperature in the hive stays constant because the bees cool it by evaporation. So no, a black hive will not be hotter unless the bees are overwhelmed and can't cool it enough. But they will work much harder to accomplish it.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

White paint definitely heats less in the sun than black. 

Curiously enough, there is little difference in the thermal emissivity of most paints. The best emissivity figures for flat black paints run about 0.97-0.98. Most latex and oil paints, even white, are no lower than 0.90. It takes careful measurement to discern any difference in their ability to emit infrared ... most organic materials are black in the infrared. 

Metallic paints can be low emissivity.

The thermal emissions at night of a wooden box will usually be limited primarily by the slight insulation provided by the wood, and color will have little effect.

The fun part of all this dry physics is that none of this will make the least bit of sense if the bees are not taken into account.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Phoebee said:


> Curiously enough, there is little difference in the thermal emissivity of most paints.


emissivity is when the energy is from within. In most cases the hive does not generate heat. The absorption of a black body vs. a white body is huge. That is energy being radiated on a body (not from within).


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## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

Falesh said:


> I would love to see some evidence that dark coloured hives are hotter then light ones. There are plenty of opinions one way or the other but I haven't managed to fine any actual evidence for either argument. Common sense seems to indicate that dark coloured hives should be hotter, but then again there are plenty of people living in deserts that dress in black to help them cope with the heat.


You refer to the Bedouins who's traditional garb is black robes in very hot climates and you are correct. Physics show that the black actually cools them down because the dark color creates an area of high heat around them which creates an artificial updraft which helps cool there bodies. I agree that the theory of black hives being hotter on the inside is purely speculation. Temp measured on the outside will be hotter, but I do not believe the inside temp would be impacted.


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## Acebird (Mar 17, 2011)

Put a thermometer in a black box and one in a white box and stop speculating.


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## AR Beekeeper (Sep 25, 2008)

I have done it with brown, green and white boxes. White is cooler by 8 degrees on a sunny March day.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

Glock,

Nice pictures! I like the colors and creativity of your bee-yard. I think some of the pictures that got posted to this thread are more interesting than the thread! Thanks for sharing.


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