# Hive Painting or Thompson Water Seal



## mharrell11 (Mar 18, 2014)

Can any of the experienced beekeepers tell if it is ok to use Thompson Water Seal instead of paint? Just built new hives. Was thinking of using Thompson instead of paint.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Priming and paint may take a little extra effort, but will last much longer.


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## dkofoed (Feb 25, 2014)

How bout don't paint or seal? that's my plan going forward ...


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## beegeorge (Apr 19, 2012)

different woods and different climates require different wood protection plans,, contact your local beekeeping club!


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## Mr wannabee (Mar 13, 2015)

dkofoed said:


> How bout don't paint or seal? that's my plan going forward ...


What kind of wood are your hives made of?


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## mharrell11 (Mar 18, 2014)

They are pine.


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## stan.vick (Dec 19, 2010)

I've used Thompsons, the wood turned a nasty color, I suppose from mildew, I repainted them with water based paint and it adhered good and looked much better. I didn't use Thompsons for long. I run less than fifty colonies and try to paint them at least every two years, most every year to try to make them last as long as I can.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

mharrell11 said:


> Can any of the experienced beekeepers tell if it is ok to use Thompson Water Seal instead of paint? Just built new hives. Was thinking of using Thompson instead of paint.


We are talking outside ONLY - right? It's OK... if you don't mind re-applying it. I don't. 'High & dry" here, so not the best comparison. Our climates are quite different.

The fresh ones from last year needed re-coating this year. I was expecting/planning on that anyway. I used Linseed over, and it soaked right in. The Thompson's is a bit thinner, and may penetrate better/deeper. I really like the way they look, and the wood _is_ protected. 

I'm thinking in a year or two they may be able to go a year _between_ re-coats. If not, oh well, I don't have that many hives. Maintain them or replace them. Paint only lasts a couple years in our intense sun - then it starts cracking & peeling. It'll be years before I can provide a fair comparison.


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## BadBeeKeeper (Jan 24, 2015)

dkofoed said:


> How bout don't paint or seal? that's my plan going forward ...


The wooden-ware that I've left 'au natural' is starting to look pretty bad after a few years.

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I started testing Thompson's Water Seal last year after it became apparent that the spar urethane wasn't going to last as long as I wanted. The bees don't mind the WS, no idea about longevity yet.

I generally tend to avoid paint because I like to see my wood, but I can see that the time may be coming when I might want to abandon my penchant for aesthetically pleasing equipment in favor of longer lasting coatings as the amount of equipment increases. The time commitment to maintaining it may be too much.


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## Kakalakee (Apr 24, 2014)

Can you paint occupied hives? Obviously, in the summer, that would probably be a disaster with bees landing on and crawling through paint. But how about early or late winter when they are clustered? Anyone every done that? I can't see disassembling hives every couple of years just for the purposes of painting boxes


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

I don't paint occupied boxes. Even on cooler days when things are quiet. Cooler means the paint dries slower so I don't bother. If I need to dress up woodenware, I swap the box with a good one and bring it inside to fix up. It's not hard when doing an inspection to pull a box, put a clean, empty one it its place, check the frames and drop them into the new box.


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## rmaxwell (Apr 23, 2014)

Thompson's doesn't work so well for me. Try a high quality clear exterior sealer.


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## jdmidwest (Jul 9, 2012)

Flood CWF-UV on my cedar boxes and a few pine ones. The UV protection keeps the wood the same color as when you seal it for a couple of seasons. I figure I will have to retreat the cedar in a year or so.

It is simply a matter of pulling out the frames and putting them in a new box. Take the old box and give it a good scraping on the inside and retreat the exterior.

I don't think the Thompson has a UV protect feature, there fore the sun grays out the wood.


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## psfred (Jul 16, 2011)

Thompson is really wax dissolved in solvent or a thin latex coating in water, depending on which one you have. Neither is very long lasting.

The best way to handle woodenware around here is two coats of boiled linseed oil allowed to dry for a few days, a couple coats of alkyd primer (which is largely linseed oil with pigment) allowed to cure completely, then at least two coats of premium exterior latex semi-gloss paint. Don't cheat on the paint -- pick up "oops" colors (mistint rejects) at the big box stores. Strange colors, but good paint.

All the other combinations I've tried over the years result in peeling paint fairly quickly. The linseed oil penetrates into the wood fibers and polymerizes together with the primer, providing excellent "stick" -- plain primer, especially "fast dry" primer, simply peels off the wood where there are fingerprints or wax, very disappointing. 

It's more work, but if you want the wood to last it's just about the only way to keep paint stuck. I'm going to have to re-paint the fence beside my hives, I did that part a couple years ago to do my neighbor a favor, and it looks like crap now, didn't use the linseed oil. I'll fix that this spring. 

Depending on your climate, bare wood may or may not last. Here, it's gonna warp really bad as soon as the bees coat the insides with propolis and that allows water into the finger joints, followed in a couple years by rot. If you have a low humidity climate, this will be much less of an issue, but I would still paint.

Peter


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Can any of the experienced beekeepers tell if it is ok to use Thompson Water Seal instead of paint? 

When I used water seal it smelled very strong for a very long time. After it aired out enough it was ok. But it was too much trouble to wait for it.


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