To get the most life out of your equipment, you must protect it from the elements. If you don't, wood exposed to the weather will rot. After you've assembled your kit and before you put your bees in their new home, paint all the outer surfaces of the hive.
Advantages and disadvantages of painting hives
Hives are often made of wood, which might deteriorate with time due to dampness, various temperature changes, and high humidity. If you want to keep the wood in good condition, start with painting it.
Bees can more easily navigate in space with the help of colorful hives, they know where their home is. In addition to protection against corrosion, light-colored painting allows you to create a favorable microclimate inside the structure during the hottest period, when there is a high risk of overheating.
In addition, the manipulation is aimed at optimizing the recognition by bees not only of their own houses, but also of neighboring ones. Thus, when painting adjacent hives in different colors, the problem of worker bees getting into other families is almost completely eliminated, which increases the efficiency of their work.
Painting hives has a disadvantage: the paint disrupts moisture exchange. The paint disrupts the full release of moisture from the hive through the wood, which is why bees can suffer from stuffiness in the hive, especially in winter.
Choosing paint for hives
The outside of the hive is most often painted with water-based latex or oil-based paint. Use two coats. It is characterized by its durability and reliability. After it dries completely, this paint loses its specific odor, which is very important for bees to avoid poisoning.
It is forbidden to paint inside the hive, as this will disrupt appropriate exchange of gases and moisture, which is very important for bee nests, as this ensures the general atmosphere in the entire hive, which is regulated by natural wood, and if it is painted, it will lose all its beneficial properties.
What color to choose?
The color is up to you. Please note that not all colors can be distinguished by bees, it can be difficult for them to find where their hive is, so you need to choose different paints for bee hives, and the insects will not have any problems finding them. Any light pastel color is fine, but don't paint your hives in dark colors because they make the hive too hot in the summer. Of the entire color palette, white, yellow, blue, blue, light purple, and green are acceptable. White seems to be the most traditional color. If you prefer, you can stain your woodenware and treat it with an outdoor grade of polyurethane.