- Joined
- Oct 16, 2012
- Messages
- 18,045
- Reaction score
- 9,304
- Location
- Fareham, Hampshire UK
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 6
I've been fortunate ? to have been given a Paynes Poly hive and 6 supers. Same as my usual hives. It came from a beekeeper that starved her bees in her first winter five years ago and never got back into it. She cleared the bees, removed the wax and sealed the hive up and it sat under a tree in her garden ever since. I did her a favour in return and got her petrol mower started (cleaned air filter and put some oil in - had about the same amount of maintenance as the hive and supers !)
When I saw it from a distance it looked like it have been painted black .. closer inspection showed it was actually covered in black mould, mildew or whatever from the tree above.
Inside was black as well, a couple of small signs of wax moth tracking but nothing to get excited about. The frames are probably bonfire material as they are black(ish) as well.
For want of a better method (and for those about to say - you shouldn't have done that - it's too late - I did it !) I took my power washer to it.
It's come up clean (inside and outside) but it's clear now that it has been washed that the unpainted exterior has suffered from UV, the algae and the weather generally. The surface is rough and has lost all its colour. There's no loose granules of poly generally - there was a bit in a couple of places - and it's structurally very sound. Just not the smooth surface of a new Paynes hive .. more like a fish box.
What I was thinking of doing was just giving it a coat or two of paint in the same way I do all my new hives, a coat of propolis varnish inside and it's a very serviceable spare hive. There's a few areas that might need a bit of filling but I don't think it's worth the effort of filling and rubbing down all the exterior surfaces - I'd be at it for a week.
I always paint my poly hives from new so I've no experience of painting degraded hives ..
Anyone got any better ideas ?
When I saw it from a distance it looked like it have been painted black .. closer inspection showed it was actually covered in black mould, mildew or whatever from the tree above.
Inside was black as well, a couple of small signs of wax moth tracking but nothing to get excited about. The frames are probably bonfire material as they are black(ish) as well.
For want of a better method (and for those about to say - you shouldn't have done that - it's too late - I did it !) I took my power washer to it.
It's come up clean (inside and outside) but it's clear now that it has been washed that the unpainted exterior has suffered from UV, the algae and the weather generally. The surface is rough and has lost all its colour. There's no loose granules of poly generally - there was a bit in a couple of places - and it's structurally very sound. Just not the smooth surface of a new Paynes hive .. more like a fish box.
What I was thinking of doing was just giving it a coat or two of paint in the same way I do all my new hives, a coat of propolis varnish inside and it's a very serviceable spare hive. There's a few areas that might need a bit of filling but I don't think it's worth the effort of filling and rubbing down all the exterior surfaces - I'd be at it for a week.
I always paint my poly hives from new so I've no experience of painting degraded hives ..
Anyone got any better ideas ?