Is it safe to paint a hive while it has a colony?

[BernardBlack]

One hive needing painting, and hope to do so come the better weather.

Is it safe to paint while the colony is using it? Would the paint do the bees any harm while they are to-ing and fro-ing?

 

[pargyle]

I woudn''t ....if you are using any paint with solvent in it the bees are not going to like it ... they seem to react badly to any solvent smells. Painting with water based would be less problematical but bees and wet paint ? You could end up with bee encrusted hive ....

I'd bite the bullet and buy an extra box in the current sales - let's face it - you always need at least one spare box for every one you have bees in ... You could get away using whatever you have as a temporary floor and roof whilst they are being painted.

IF you have some supers you could put the super frames into a box and store them and then use a couple of supers as a temporary hive whilst you paint the brood box ?

More than one way of skinning a cat ....