Hive Painting

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pargyle

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Fareham, Hampshire UK
Hive Type
14x12
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I know there have been more than a few threads on here about hive painting but .... in readiness for splitting my Long Deep Hive I now have two Paynes Poly Hives. Cheapskate that I am I picked up a bent tin of B&Q Garden Colours (almost identical to Ronseal Shades) for half price ... I've always used this sort of paint on the other polys I have and it works very well... 2 coats to cover.

However, this tin is a very plain grey colour ... which I don't mind ... but the two hives will be sitting pretty close to each other after the split and at present they look (boringly) identical in battleship grey.

I read somewhere that bees like some sort of visual indication as well as their other senses to identify their own hive once they get close enough so the question I would put to the forum is: Should I paint a different contrasting colour or shape on each of the hives and if so is it best on the roof or above the entrance or both ?

I have various colours in the workshop - remnants from past projects so my mean habits would not be jeopardised.

Or is hive art just something to entertain beekeepers ?
 
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I know there have been more than a few threads on here about hive painting but .... in readiness for splitting my Long Deep Hive I now have two Paynes Poly Hives. Cheapskate that I am I picked up a bent tin of B&Q Garden Colours (almost identical to Ronseal Shades) for half price ... I've always used this sort of paint on the other polys I have and it works very well... 2 coats to cover.

However, this tin is a very plain grey colour ... which I don't mind ... but the two hives will be sitting pretty close to each other after the split and at present they look (boringly) identical in battleship grey.

I read somewhere that bees like some sort of visual indication as well as their other senses to identify their own hive once they get close enough so the question I would put to the forum is: Should I paint a different contrasting colour or shape on each of the hives and if so is it best on the roof or above the entrance or both ?

I have various colours in the workshop - remnants from past projects so my mean habits would not be jeopardised.

Or is hive art just something to entertain beekeepers ?

All my poly hives are painted brick red and are close together and i've not noticed and problems aside from the odd drift you get. Normal cedar hives look pretty much identical to a bee i'd have thought and people push them up close. I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I believe Swarm painted his as a type of camouflage. You could do something like that so they are not identical. Or a brick on one and a stone on the other. Different coloured straps. But I have not had a problem with identical hives close together.
 
You could apply stickers...then if you don't like them later ....you can peel them off. All my polys are painted pastel colours. I did the same...picked up some discarded tins from the sale shelf....plus some of the small pots of samples for Weathercoat masonry smooth paint. So have lots of lovely colours. Even my long hive is pale blue now!
 
I tried laminated coloured shapes last year on hives that were close together.

TBH most of them de-laminated / fell off by the end of the season but I still use them on the Nucs to help Queens returning from mating flights get the right entrance!


And before anybody comments the 'food' sign on the super was to remind me which supers had part filled frames in to give back to the bees and not intended as a sign for the bees!
 

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Mine are all different colours(see pic on left) so i can remember what i did to each hive/nuc
I also paint numbers on them for hive records
If all mine were identical i would never remember what manipulations i had done when i got to my record book.
I do keep records (or sort) :hairpull:
 
You could try RAF blue and a roundel..
 
I have extremely well educated bees.

I have brass numbers on each hive (£1.50 from ebay when bought as a job lot)..

Never any drifting issues:)
 
I have door bells on my hives, the bees are ever so polite.:icon_204-2:
 
Thanks all ... I remember the beautiful camo hive pictures last year .. all seem to have disappeared now.

So. I'll perhaps indulge myself and the bees and paint some different coloured shapes on so they know where they live ... or not as the case may be !!
 
Greetings from sunny spain, 23C,
battleship grey seems to be the standard colour of most of the hives in this area, even the ones on pollination contracts which are laid out in rows of twenty five hives on each side of the farm track, at the moment they are in the melon fields,
we have a rampant honeysuckle in full flower growing out side our casa but not a single bee.
 
I read somewhere that bees like some sort of visual indication as well as their other senses to identify their own hive once they get close enough so the question I would put to the forum is: Should I paint a different contrasting colour or shape on each of the hives and if so is it best on the roof or above the entrance or both ?

From memory, I think bees identify with angular shapes best; triangles and squares rather than smoth shapes, such as circles and elipses. However, this is just when they are near.
 
I still think the DR Who police box idea is good.
 

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