# Painting deeps & supers



## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Prime and paint with quality materials. Outside only.


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Painting the outside of the hives is fine and recommended. I would also paint the edges of the plywood. Painting the inside of the hive is generally frowned upon.

If you are going to use plywood, before painting I would mix up a batch of diluted Titebond glue to the consistency of paint, and brush it onto the edges of the cut plywood to seal the edge, instead of paint there.


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> Painting the outside of the hives is fine and recommended. I would also paint the edges of the plywood. Painting the inside of the hive is generally frowned upon.
> 
> If you are going to use plywood, before painting I would mix up a batch of diluted Titebond glue to the consistency of paint, and brush it onto the edges of the cut plywood to seal the edge, instead of paint there.


Yep. This is what I'd suggest.


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## MaydayMalone (Jan 19, 2012)

As already stated, only paint the outsides. Don't paint the top or bottom edges or on hot summer days, they will stick together. If you paint the insides, the bees will cover it with propolis....a waste of time and energy for the bees. The best paint that I've found is "Behr Barn and Fence Paint." Use white or light colors to reflect the heat of the summer months. 

On my English Garden Hive, I used a nice wood stain with 4 coats of varnish.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

The bees will coat the inside of the hive with propolis painted to not, that's why you shouldn't paint it -- the bees will do it for you. They will decide how water-proof they want the wood.

Peter


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

psfred said:


> The bees will coat the inside of the hive with propolis painted to not, that's why you shouldn't paint it -- the bees will do it for you. They will decide how water-proof they want the wood.
> 
> Peter


I would paint the INSIDE as well - the Philippines is hot AND humid and any timber product in such a climate will last longer if painted really well. 
We paint boxes inside and outside here in the subtropics.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Oh Max, you should be lashed 20 times in public for doing that!! 

ps, I do the same thing.


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## EastSideBuzz (Apr 12, 2009)

5 a day. I paint 5 things a day every day. freeze the paint brush in-between.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

> freeze the paint brush in-between.


Never heard that oneopcorn:


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Sorry I missed the location! Yes, a good idea to paint the entire box. You can rub talcum powder on the top and bottom edges, this will help keep them from sticking together.

Freezing a paint brush is a great way to keep it from setting up between paint jobs. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and put in a ziplock bag, should last for months. Just thaw a bit before using again, and make sure you use it in the same paint or wash it out first.

While this will also work for alkyd paints, it's best for use with latex paints. The paint is suspended in water, and the water keeps the polymerization inhibitor from evaporating (it's usually butyl alcohol, I think). So long as the paint contains water, it will not polymerize, freezing keeps the water from evaporating.

Best if you use the spare fridge, though -- you might not want a paint thinner flavored steak.

Peter


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## max2 (Dec 24, 2009)

"Sorry I missed the location! Yes, a good idea to paint the entire box. You can rub talcum powder on the top and bottom edges, this will help keep them from sticking together."

Good idea.
I use strips cut from a plastic icecream container as spacers. Minimal sticking.


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## Circeae (Jan 2, 2013)

I assumed painting the outside a light color was to reflect/absorb less heat and to make the wood last longer, but as I go through site after site trying to determine where I'll buy my first hive, I'm torn trying to decide whether to buy painted, unpainted, paint later, varnish later, leave natural, etc... 

Will I have better luck with a specific type? Are there certain colors or materials you absolutely shouldn't use that'll make my girls hate me? 

Also, any particular type of wood is preferred? Not recommended?

~Circ


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I paint my home hives white. It's traditional and it matches my house. I have some hives in yards where I don't want them to be easily seen. Those hives are green. When I feed, I use gallon paint cans on top of the inner cover. I put an old deep painted red around the feeder can. When I look into a yard, I can tell right away which hives are being fed. Helps my bad memory. I wouldn't fret too much about the color. Here in New England we get lots of different weather so I like paint. Plenty of folks don't paint at all and do fine but I think the paint helps with marginal wood or a marginal fit to the joints. I very much prefer oil base at least for the primer even though oil based paints today can't hold a candle to the good stuff that they don't make any longer. When I do use latex is for topcoat only and even then the latex boxes don't last as long as my oil painted boxes. Same experience on the house and the barn. I don't paint the inside unless I suspect disease. Then, I clean the box, sand it down and paint all the surfaces. Don't know how much it really helps but it makes me feel better. I use pine for wood but have used cypress and plywood. They're all fine but I make my own boxes now and pine is easy to get. If I were you, I'd buy reasonably priced woodenware and just decide how you want it to look. Any method will be fine with the bees. Heck you could decorate them if you wanted. I've seen camo boxes made up by folks. Met a guy last year who painted them to look like a brick wall (nope....I don't know why, he just wanted me to capture his swarms). As an aside, my absolute favorite boxes are homemade nucs (pine) that were stained natural and then finished with multiple coats of exterior poly. They look real cool being able to see the wood grain, etc., and they've held up nicely to all that our climate has to offer, even show. Bottom line, it's probably more about what you like than what will matter to the bees. Have fun (which I think is something that many of us don't do enough when we keep bees).


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Circ,
You will get varying answers to your question. The white paint is to reflect heat and keep the hive cooler. You are in Texas so I imagine it gets pretty warm down there.
Myself, I'd buy the unpainted, assemble yourself hive. Then assemble, prime and paint for the total experience. 

FYI, as an experiment, I purposely did not paint one hive (pine) and placed it next to a painted hive. Within two months, that unpainted hive warped until the corners opened up and started to turn grey. Needless to say it's now fixed and painted.


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## Mike Gillmore (Feb 25, 2006)

Is marine plywood treated with any chemicals that may be harmful to the bees? I don't know much about it, just wondering.


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