Painting Poly Hives

[Into the lions den]

Ok that answers another question, as in do need to internally paint poly feeders to seal them.

Though was and still am concerned doing so might end up with some paint chemical leeching into the feed , as basically paint coating would be submerged in syrup solution for an extended period which paint is not designed for. Or is this not a problem ?

Thanks

That's why we use water based acrylic masonry paint in the interior. Once thoroughly dry it's permanent, non toxic, and does not 'off grade' the syrup. To be fair this is true of most paints. When we stlll had wooden feeders for the wooden hives.......given away several years ago.......... we used to paint them inside with bitumastic paint. Did the bees no harm and was a pretty decent sealant.

 

[Obee1]

I have several poly national hives and a few nucs - they all need painting and I was rather sad that cheap masonry paint is always in neutral colours. Very good to hear that gloss paint works - I have loads of half used tins of brightly coloured gloss knocking round - then I read the forum section on hive thefts. As my hives are about to be moved to a farmers field that is quite easily accessible by car and the hedge is almost see through I'm too nervous to paint the hives in bright colours. Wonder how easy it is to paint a camouflage pattern!

 

[Erichalfbee]

paint coating would be submerged in syrup solution for an extended period which paint is not designed for. Or is this not a problem ?

Thanks

As long as it takes for the bees to consume it; not long.
My house is part painted in masonry paint and it rains a lot here....not sugar solution mind

Wonder how easy it is to paint a camouflage pattern!

Inspired by our forum "Kandinsky" I tried but failed miserably.
It depends on your talent, I guess.

 

[marshallh9]

I've noticed that ITLD paints his poly boxes in different colours. Is this a management system to differentiate between brood boxes and supers?
I was also wondering if there is any value in painting poly hives in different colours or adding distinctive markings to reduce the incidence of drifting and to assist the return of mated queens to the correct hive?

I noticed this link on the SBAi site
about the need to use different coloured apideas to help queens return and wondered if this could be applied to an apiary. I realise that apiaries of unpainted wooden hives are generally the norm before anyone points out the obvious!

(I can't add links as I am not a sufficiently prolific poster - check the link on page 48 of poly hive musings)

Any thoughts?

 

[Into the lions den]

Marshall........its entirely an anti drifting thing....bees see sense in what we see as random. They seem to home in on colour interfaces rather than colour per se. Some of the colours are chosen for no better a reason than you have. The paint dealer flogs me his over runs of ordered colours and lets me have the overstocks or out of code gloss for a pound a litre. That's a good enough reason for me when the stuff is 5 times that price specially ordered. Having said that, MOST of our colours were chosen ones at full price.

The colours serve as a good aide memoir too.....easy to send a staff member to 'the one on the corner with the green brood box'.

Drifting has become a lot less of an issue since the multi colour option was taken. Used to be a real problem in *some* locations with uniform wooden hives.

 

[For want of a better word]

Run a small test of your paint on the polly before going into full paint mode.

One manufacturers nuc dissolved a bit on painting with an oil based paint.. yet anothers took the paint well!

Mytten da

 

[Poly Hive]

There is poly and poly and it would be sensible to get to grips with that fact.

I have painted my polys in different colours from the off as there is nothing more sure to encourage drifting than to have say ten white WBC's in a line.

I also hve all my mating nucs painted in different colours with spots of contrasting colour on the roofs or half the roof one colour and the other half another, say blue and white brown and red and so on to try and minimise the accidental drifting of queens.

Colour is a very useful tool.

PH

 

[Into the lions den]

Run a small test of your paint on the polly before going into full paint mode.

One manufacturers nuc dissolved a bit on painting with an oil based paint.. yet anothers took the paint well!

Mytten da

Yes indeed. Some of the UK made products of the past were far too soft. I think the one you talk of may have been the version made by Park Beekeeping Supplies. I know of no current poly boxes that do not paint perfectly well.

 

[Quis Custodiet]

I don't have very much in the way of poly hives, as no manufacturer produces them in 16 x 10. Apideas and nucs make up the bulk of what I have, several different "painting schemes" have been tried and Dulux smooth Weathershield seems to be among the most useful. It is relatively inexpensive and easy enough to apply and dark green shades blend in nicely with the background. Stripes, triangles and squares, using paint or old cd's cut to shape all help as signposts to home!

 

[madasafish]

As long as it takes for the bees to consume it; not long.
My house is part painted in masonry paint and it rains a lot here....not sugar solution mind

Inspired by our forum "Kandinsky" I tried but failed miserably.
It depends on your talent, I guess.

Lots of camo paint on ebay...http://tinyurl.com/zzu4xw7

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Lots of camo paint on ebay...http://tinyurl.com/zzu4xw7

do they have any striped paint in stock?

 

[BeeJayBee]

do they have any striped paint in stock?

Not until the beginning of next month.

 

[fred scuttle]

I've heard they use Tartan paint North of the Border.......

 

[Into the lions den]

I've heard they use Tartan paint North of the Border.......

We do as well, but its out of stock at my local paint wholesaler. New stock arriving next Friday. Tried to get some for painting the new wave of nuc boxes but they had none so we had to go for green instead.

 

[Norvic_chris]

Yes indeed. Some of the UK made products of the past were far too soft. I think the one you talk of may have been the version made by Park Beekeeping Supplies. I know of no current poly boxes that do not paint perfectly well.

I agree -- I managed to dissolve the surface of mine quite happily with a spray paint (probably the solvent content was too high but it was cheap from Lidl!) but realised I was being daft quickly enough to avoid major damage. I used Dulux exterior gloss in olive green in the end as I had some left over. It's still good after 3 years and hasn't flaked during cleaning; but that's more than I can say for the poly hive, which has been disappointing in its robustness around the top and bottom surfaces and corners (hive tool damage, propolis sticking meaning I'm tearing away small parts every time I open it, even the bees have eaten sizeable holes through it!. I wondered about painting the interior surfaces too, to attempt to stop this. I suspect it's the brand (I won't mention it for fear of starting another thread altogether!), or me.

 

[mbc]

I agree -- I managed to dissolve the surface of mine quite happily with a spray paint (probably the solvent content was too high but it was cheap from Lidl!) but realised I was being daft quickly enough to avoid major damage. I used Dulux exterior gloss in olive green in the end as I had some left over. It's still good after 3 years and hasn't flaked during cleaning; but that's more than I can say for the poly hive, which has been disappointing in its robustness around the top and bottom surfaces and corners (hive tool damage, propolis sticking meaning I'm tearing away small parts every time I open it, even the bees have eaten sizeable holes through it!. I wondered about painting the interior surfaces too, to attempt to stop this. I suspect it's the brand (I won't mention it for fear of starting another thread altogether!), or me.

The post loses 90% of its value without a name and shame imho

 

[Swarm]

The post loses 90% of its value without a name and shame imho

 

[pargyle]

.... but that's more than I can say for the poly hive, which has been disappointing in its robustness around the top and bottom surfaces and corners (hive tool damage, propolis sticking meaning I'm tearing away small parts every time I open it, even the bees have eaten sizeable holes through it!. I wondered about painting the interior surfaces too, to attempt to stop this. I suspect it's the brand (I won't mention it for fear of starting another thread altogether!), or me.

I don't have that problem with my Paynes Poly Hives... very robust .. they do come equipped with metal runners for the frames which I think helps. I also 'paint' the inside with my propolis varnish before putting bees in them - never had them chew the hives at all.

 

[BeeJayBee]

I also 'paint' the inside with my propolis varnish before putting bees in them - never had them chew the hives at all.

You mix propolis with meths, why doesn't this damage the polystyrene?

 

[pargyle]

You mix propolis with meths, why doesn't this damage the polystyrene?

It evaporates so quickly I don't think it has time to affect the poly .. indeed, I'm not even sure that the meths attacks the poly .. I've never seen any sort of reaction when I paint it on.