Welcome, Guest

Author Topic: Does hive color matter  (Read 3363 times)

Offline Flydown

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Gender: Male
Does hive color matter
« on: May 18, 2018, 07:16:36 pm »
I bought a new unpainted hive today to put bees in from my swarm box. I only have blue paint and really don't want to buy any right now. Is there anything wrong with having a blue hive?
"Not everything that can be counted, counts. Not everything that counts, can be counted."
Albert Einstein

Enjoy your blessings.
Lenord Vaughan

Offline cao

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1678
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2018, 07:36:57 pm »
I got tired of painting all the boxes white.  So I got creative and starting mixing some leftover paint.  I got just about every color from white to shades of yellow, green, blue, red, grey, purple to brown.  I think the only color that I don't have is black.  I would probably have black ones but it would get to hot in the middle of summer.  As long as it is not a really dark blue, I see nothing wrong with it.

Offline Flydown

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2018, 07:47:17 pm »
No, it is not a dark blue.
"Not everything that can be counted, counts. Not everything that counts, can be counted."
Albert Einstein

Enjoy your blessings.
Lenord Vaughan

Offline BeeMaster2

  • Administrator
  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 13494
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2018, 09:21:13 pm »
Fly,
Most of my hives are gray only because I had a 5 gallon bucket of it left over from painting the house. I was painting up to 10 stacked supers at a time. As long as you are not trying to hide the hives from prying eyes, using different colored supers is a good thing. Especially when each hive has different combinations of colored supers. It helps minimize drifting. 
Jim
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote.
Ben Franklin

Offline NasalSponge

  • House Bee
  • **
  • Posts: 301
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2018, 09:25:36 pm »
It matters not......Richard Taylor used to paint his black so.....yeah.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


Offline iddee

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 10853
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2018, 09:37:28 pm »
Lay your hand on a white car and a black car on a sunny day. Then decide for yourself. Temperature is the only reason the color you use matters.
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me . . . Anything can happen, child. Anything can be"

*Shel Silverstein*

Van, Arkansas, USA

  • Guest
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2018, 10:48:58 pm »
I?d, you forgot one very important factor.  Your slipping!!  Gotta please the wife, wife must approve the color.  At my house anyway.  Never never no never, get the wife mad.

Offline Flydown

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2018, 11:01:23 pm »
Lay your hand on a white car and a black car on a sunny day. Then decide for yourself. Temperature is the only reason the color you use matters.

I work with wind turbine blades that are so light in color that they are almost white. On a sunny summer day in Arkansas you cannot touch them with bare hands. I don't think light blue will make that much difference.
"Not everything that can be counted, counts. Not everything that counts, can be counted."
Albert Einstein

Enjoy your blessings.
Lenord Vaughan

Offline Hops Brewster

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 724
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2018, 10:40:12 am »
Most of mine are wood color.  Also a couple white hive bodies and a green one inherited from a friend.
Winter is coming.

I can't say I hate the government, but I am proudly distrustful of them.

Offline DuaneB

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 40
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2018, 04:44:12 pm »
Mine are 'lettuce' green and wood.   :grin:

Offline little john

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1537
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2018, 05:08:29 pm »
Mine are whatever colour was on the brush on the day they got painted.
LJ

BTW - black absorbs heat - but it also radiates it too.  Look at the clothes worn in the desert and in Middle Eastern countries: some wear white (to reflect heat), but very many wear black.  Curious.
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Offline sc-bee

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2985
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #11 on: May 22, 2018, 12:38:20 am »
What's paint :shocked: :wink:
John 3:16

Online Acebird

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8110
  • Gender: Male
  • Just do it
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #12 on: May 22, 2018, 08:49:35 am »
A substance to give color and slow down the effects of weathering.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline paus

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 660
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #13 on: May 22, 2018, 10:15:11 am »
Ask my wife she is all ways talking about paint and Mauve and pastels and some other unfamiliar terms.   But the side effects are that I get to use some left over paint when she gets through.

Offline little john

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 1537
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #14 on: May 22, 2018, 01:35:41 pm »
FWIW - the Japanese often employ a method of preserving wood by flaming, or charring it's surface.  We call this technique 'Shou Sugi Ban' - they call it 'yaki sugi-ita' - might be worth investigating ...?

LJ
A Heretics Guide to Beekeeping - http://heretics-guide.atwebpages.com

Online Acebird

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8110
  • Gender: Male
  • Just do it
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2018, 01:37:25 pm »
That is what Lauri does on the other forum.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline DeepCreek

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 32
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #16 on: May 25, 2018, 12:22:22 pm »
A $9.00 gallon of miss-tint paint from Lowe's has determined that in fact color does matter ; )

Offline The15thMember

  • Global Moderator
  • Galactic Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 4429
  • Gender: Female
  • Traveler of the Multiverse, Seeker of Knowledge
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #17 on: May 25, 2018, 01:01:31 pm »
A $9.00 gallon of miss-tint paint from Lowe's has determined that in fact color does matter ; )

Oh yeah, it definitely matters there!  At my local paint store I was able to get 2 gal. of slightly mis-tinted opaque white wood stain, that was regularly priced at $80, for $15!  And it's so much paint, I won't need more for years!   :grin: 
I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led.  And through the air, I am she that walks unseen.

Offline Flydown

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #18 on: May 25, 2018, 03:35:37 pm »
A $9.00 gallon of miss-tint paint from Lowe's has determined that in fact color does matter ; )

I hadn't thought of that. I will have to look for some miss tint paint.
"Not everything that can be counted, counts. Not everything that counts, can be counted."
Albert Einstein

Enjoy your blessings.
Lenord Vaughan

Offline Flydown

  • New Bee
  • *
  • Posts: 37
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #19 on: May 25, 2018, 03:36:57 pm »
I painted mine the color I did because that was the paint I had on hand.
"Not everything that can be counted, counts. Not everything that counts, can be counted."
Albert Einstein

Enjoy your blessings.
Lenord Vaughan

Offline paus

  • Field Bee
  • ***
  • Posts: 660
  • Gender: Male
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #20 on: May 25, 2018, 04:52:28 pm »
I use a lot of "OOPS" paint especially if I find deck and porch paint.  I have bought paint from 5- 12 dollars per gallon.  I have nothing on which  to base my opium, but  I believe the entrances that are painted different will help in controlling the spread of mites and maladies.  Why, because it seems that there will be fewer bees landing in the neighbors hive if the entrance has a distinct look, I paint different patterns on the landing board.  In long rows of commercial hives the hives on the end always produce more than the hives in the middle, case in point.

Van, Arkansas, USA

  • Guest
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #21 on: May 25, 2018, 05:50:38 pm »
I have seen hives painted silver, reflected sunlight well in the hot humid costal area of US.

Offline sc-bee

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2985
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2018, 11:48:08 am »
A substance to give color and slow down the effects of weathering.

Hey Michael Bush... You hear that  :grin:

From  'The Practical Beekeeper"
Stop painting your equipment.
You've probably noticed by now, if you looked at pictures of my hives, that a lot of them are not painted. Maybe the neighbors or the wife will complain but the bees won't care. They might not last as long. I don't know because I only stopped painting them about four years ago. But think of all the time you'll save!

I'm not the only one who believes that:
"The hives need no painting, although there is no harm in doing it if their owner wants to please his own eye. The bees find their way to their own hives more easily if the hives do not all look alike. I rarely paint mine, and as a result no two are quite alike. Most have the appearance of many years of use and many seasons of exposure to the elements." --Richard Taylor, The Joys of Beekeeping
"I suppose they would last longer if painted, but hardly enough longer to pay for the paint." --C.C. Miller, Fifty Years Among the Bees
Lately I bought a lot of equipment and wanted to keep it as nice as I could for as long as I could so I started dipping them in beeswax and gum rosin.
John 3:16

Online Acebird

  • Galactic Bee
  • ******
  • Posts: 8110
  • Gender: Male
  • Just do it
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #23 on: May 26, 2018, 12:14:35 pm »
They might not last as long.
What I said.
Quote
"The hives need no painting, although there is no harm in doing it if their owner wants to please his own eye.

What I said.
Brian Cardinal
Just do it

Offline sc-bee

  • Super Bee
  • *****
  • Posts: 2985
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #24 on: May 26, 2018, 02:32:02 pm »
They might not last as long.
What I said.
Quote
"The hives need no painting, although there is no harm in doing it if their owner wants to please his own eye.

What I said.

What did you say???  :wink:
John 3:16

Offline Michael Bush

  • Universal Bee
  • *******
  • Posts: 19833
  • Gender: Male
    • bushfarms.com
Re: Does hive color matter
« Reply #25 on: May 29, 2018, 01:11:18 pm »
"Another reason for not painting hives is that I am afraid bees do not do quite so well in painted as in  unpainted hives, especially in winter."--C.C. Miller, 50 Years Among the Bees



My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
"Everything works if you let it."--James "Big Boy" Medlin