painting a poly hive

[Tdod]

I have invested in a national 14x12 poly hive to go along side my plywood hive I made some time ago, the ply hive is easy to replicate as I have allways got off cuts but probably the poly one is much better at doing the job it was desighned for...

my question is I have been painting the outsides of the ply hive with green gloss to give them maximum protection against the elements and they allso blend in better ( I have a lot of green gloss so I have not got to buy it )But you can not get the masonary paint in a similar colour, would it not be possible to coat the poly hive in an accrylic primer/undercoat to seal it then put a coat of the gloss over the top that way the gloss would not react/melt with the poly.

anyone glossed a polyhive in this way or is it a no no

many thanks

 

[REDWOOD]

solvent paints will melt it and not too sure on oil based but I remember my granddad painting his poly ceiling tiles with gloss paint. Do a test.

 

[REDWOOD]

Modernb@@keeping has a pdf on poly hive painting

 

[o.stjohn]

Modernb@@keeping has a pdf on poly hive painting

http://www.****************.co.uk/p/assembly-and-use-of-hives swap the asterisks with modernbeekeeping - Grrr!

 

[beebopalula]

Masonry paint is available in any colour you may require. Just ask your supplier to mix the colour you want - that's what I do.

 

[Swarm]

Into the Lion's Den paints his poly hives with gloss, you need to do a test. Masonry is certainly not a necessity either, ordinary emulsion does the job adequately as does wood preserver. The idea of painting is to protect from UV and algae.

 

[BeeJayBee]

I took advice from a local bee farmer who paints his poly hives with "kitchen and bathroom" vinyl.

Mine came from the reduced area of the shop!

 

[itma]

Different manufacturer's poly hives may well react differently to the same paint.

Test a small inconsequential spot - like underneath the roof.

The Cuprinol Garden Shades range is a popular (and safe) choice.
Where it gets tricky is with solvent-based paints that are hoped to partly dissolve the surface and then form a new harder 'skin'.

 

[Tdod]

mine is a p****es polyhive I will have a trial underneath and see what happens is there anyone out there who have painted them with gloss if so did they just paint the gloss straight on or use an undercoat??

 

[Ross]

Different manufacturer's poly hives may well react differently to the same paint.

The polystyrene used within polyhives is the same across all manufacturers in the UK, the only difference is the density and some use dye in the poly. The polystyrene is the same, and will react in the same way to paints.

All of the suppliers have recommendations on painting, however, ITLD recommended painting with gloss there was a detailed post by him not that long ago that a search would bring up.

Ross

 

[J.M.Learner]

I have payne poly too and painted them with masonry paint, 3 coats for the inside feeder. A little tip I found is don't let them dry outside at the moment, especially overnight... they were still a bit wet in the morning. Modern beekeeping pdf says that you can use gloss for the feeder... but i haven't tried, stuck to what I know - masonry seems to work ok.

 

[Teemore]

I used masonry paint on some of my P@ynes poly hives and a green gloss on others. (Don't ask me the brand name as i haven't a notion what it was....) I rate their poly nucs more than their poly hives although the built in feeder is a nuisance. I will be removing the feeder from one as an experiment....

 

[Tdod]

Hi tempore did you put the gloss straight on the poly or did you use an undercoat??

 

[grizzly]

Do you need to paint the P@ynes ones ?

 

[itma]

Do you need to paint the P@ynes ones ?

You don't have to.
But it should help prevent the surface going brittle over the years, and reduce algae and the like.
Plus, the right colour should help conceal the thing!

The bees are very happy with mine, but my painting it white was not well though-through...

 

[Teemore]

I just painted the gloss straight on. As advised elsewhere on this thread, do a wee test patch somewhere out of sight.

As Itma notes, you don't have to paint poly hives but in the interests of longevity and visual appeal, I chose to.

 

[Tdod]

Teemore
has the gloss lasted as long as the masonary paint or no difference?

 

[grizzly]

I used the green masonry paint on the hives i bought from MB, they look good, with a new wee one around painting hive parts is hard to schedule in so i had hoped that the P@ynes might afford me the luxury.

 

[J.M.Learner]

I used masonry paint on some of my P@ynes poly hives and a green gloss on others. (Don't ask me the brand name as i haven't a notion what it was....) I rate their poly nucs more than their poly hives although the built in feeder is a nuisance. I will be removing the feeder from one as an experiment....

Let me know how that goes

 

[Swarm]

Fatshark has already done that.