Is it worth painting hives different colours?

[Amari]

Goran from Croatia has posted today a pic of his brightly coloured hives (What did you do in the apiary today…Hash 10156 (Sorry, I don't know how to attach his post to mine - grateful for tuition).
I'm a bit rusty on bee physiology - does painting hives different colours help them locate so reducing drifting?
On a rather different painting topic, I rather like the southern european practice of pictorial hive fronts. I bought a couple in Bavaria many years ago.

 

[enrico]

Love the picture themes, might deter thieves!

 

[drstitson]

yes. painting will help (so long as colours bees can differentiate).

you can mix and match colours between brood and supers to increase combinations possible.

maybe most important for mating hives (see PHs old post showing Bernard Mobus's boxes).

symbols probably help too - just use ones shown to be recognised.

but most importantly allow YOU to identify hives easily, even if moved around!!!!

i for example have "LS nuc brown" "LS nuc cream" "LS nuc cream and brown" etc etc.

another issue re bee health is that different colours means you can keep supers, extra boxes, feeders and frames for individual hives.

 

[Norfolk]

My understanding is that it does.
I also paint a symbol (circle or square) on the front of mine in a different colour.
In fact the symbol is painted on the circle or square in a contrasting colour.

 

[Tim.S]

I have a line of 6 hives over about 10 metres and I am sure they used to 'drift' to the farthest hive as that always seemed to have the most bees in it and I can't find any other rational explanation. About 2 years ago I got some deal hives cheap and painted them yellow and blue, I am certain that there is less drifting now. Still got the big hive at the end though!

 

[Amari]

My understanding is that it does.
I also paint a symbol (circle or square) on the front of mine in a different colour.
In fact the symbol is painted on the circle or square in a contrasting colour.

Have you got a pic?

 

[MuswellMetro]

I thought recent research had disproved painting hives different Colours helps stop drifting etc, i cannot find the papers but think it was by Tautz

The reason painting hive different colours does not help was that bees use colour to find flowers while looking for forage but when going from and returning to hive they switch off their colour rhadoms and use only certain of the rhadoms that see only bee green/blue

They combine this mono colour vision with landmark and interferance paterns of the scenary to find the hive

it went on and said that although work on bees seeing flower in colour no work was done by frisch on hive of different colors and the german practice of paint hive in different colours had no basis, only shape and the blue their Bee green/blue rhadom helps stop drifting, ie you paint your hive is a UV emitting blue with different dark shapes

it was therefore wrong to infer that bees would see hives in colour

EDIT

still cant find the paper but page 79-80 of Jurgen Tautz book "The buzz about Bees" has some statement about it but just states it rather than explains detail

 

[Norfolk]

Have you got a pic?

Here is one I prepared earlier.

View attachment 9320

 

[REDWOOD]

It can help you as well as the bees if you colour code hives and parts but don't paint them black or red

 

[REDWOOD]

Here is one I prepared earlier.

View attachment 9320

Nice paint job, It reminds me of a dolly mixture sweet, I could quite easily see this in the Tate

 

[Norfolk]

Nice paint job, It reminds me of a dolly mixture sweet, I could quite easily see this in the Tate

As I uploaded it I thought I'd get some stick.

 

[REDWOOD]

As I uploaded it I thought I'd get some stick.

Hey you should see some of mine, I get my paint from a local recycling centre and you would be amazed how many different tins of garden shades I have,
Forget me not will be the next colour I use and will help the bees find their way home

 

[VEG]

mine are all painted a crappy brown colour, as I bought a job lot of brown ducksback lol.

 

[REDWOOD]

I really should be painting them camouflage but no fun in that

 

[Swarm]

Oh I don't know, a bit of dazzle camo looks quite nice.

 

[Norfolk]

I really should be painting them camouflage but no fun in that

I painted a hive in camo once.

Trouble is, I can't find it now.

 

[REDWOOD]

I painted a hive in camo once.

Trouble is, I can't find it now.

 

[REDWOOD]

I don't know next we will be sticking jewels on them

 

[Norfolk]

I don't know next we will be sticking jewels on them

Ah the Hivejazzle

 

[Hivemaker.]

The only ones that get painted here are plywood hives, with acrylic shed and fence paint, the cedar hives get no paint or preservative treatment at all.