to paint or not to paint.....

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biglongdarren

Drone Bee
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
1,057
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40
Location
Mourne mountains
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
20+
i have three national hives...two are whitewood and one is cedar,the two whitewood ones are treated with cuprinol 5 year water based woodstain and the cedar has nothin on it...when it rains the water bounches straight off the two treated hives but the untreated cedar one tends to be less water resistant....surely cedar or not it would be better treated folks???
 
My back yard hive are all painted with cuprinol red cedar, both Nationals and WBCs,
thats because the old miseries across the valley said my hives stuck out like sore thumbs when white... now they are in camo to match the Devon red soil!
But my bees don't complain about all the nectar rich plants the miseries have in their gardens!!! and seem to find their way back loaded with the rich bounty whatever the colour.
 
am a painter and decorator by day and ive heard before that painting a hive with the likes of undercoat and gloss paint can stop the moisture from getting out through the wood and the hive becoming damp,but i cant see this being true.....anyboby else have any veiws on this??
 
I used Dulux One Coat Gloss. 2 coats..... Bung the second one on before the first one dried.....


ha! I bet biglongdarren has just had a fit.:sifone:
 
Not a good idea to paint single walled cedar hives,they don't need it.
 
Not a good idea to paint single walled cedar hives,they don't need it.

Cuprinol wood preserver Red Cedar ..the only one tested an approved for use on beehives, I was told breathes... but only use on outside of hive
I did go to the trouble of geting a data sheet from them ( or rather the helpful young man at B&Q did for me)
 
I much prefer nothing painted on my hives Ian,they breath much easier,i like the natural look, and they stay lovely and dry,unlike ply.
 
"Cuprinol wood preserver Red Cedar ..the only one tested an approved for use on beehives"

No longer true - http://www.cuprinol.co.uk/features/animals/beehives.jsp

Thanks for that Cuprinol update......................

fortunately my garden hives : nationals and WBC lifts, were painted in Cuprinols at that time only approved red cedar wood preservative paint ... a couple of years ago... as they had to be red to blend into landscape... and seems to be mellowing nicely.

Still give al the old faggots we pay overthetop for in Brussells something to do !
 
Think you would find that the stuff you have would't confirm to latest EU standards, and the new stuff they are making is a no go for hive decorating!

My war cry is "even distilled water is carcinogenic to white lab mice"!!!
 
I was under the impression that previous posts about the component changes to Cuprinol indicated that rather than a series of new chemicals being added, 2 or three had been removed and thus there was some debate as to whether the 'new' stuff was actually harmful to bees....

I'm sticking to boiled Linseed Oil anyway!
 
Think you would find that the stuff you have would't confirm to latest EU standards, and the new stuff they are making is a no go for hive decorating!

My war cry is "even distilled water is carcinogenic to white lab mice"!!!

Do you have the trial results to prove it?
 
I may paint a few deal supers I have with Cuprinol 5 year, as it lasts a lot longer than that, sinking into the wood beautifully. I have portions of an old and very weathered fence that were painted more than 10 years ago which still shed rain water like water off a duck's back.
 
My war cry is "even distilled water is carcinogenic to white lab mice"!!!

Understandable really.

The last bottle I bought said it was not for human consumption...
 
What a difference a year makes. It used to be Cuprinol clear wood preserver that was regularly advertised as being the bee safe product. The active ingredient was propiconazole and the colour of the can was GREEN.

Propiconazole is a triazole fungicide used agriculturally on grasses grown for seed,
mushrooms, corn, wild rice, peanuts, almonds, sorghum, oats, pecans, apricots, peaches,
nectarines, plums and prunes. Propiconazole is a mixture of four stereoisomers and was
first developed in 1979 by Janssen Pharmaceutical.
 
Many pesticides, herbicides and related chemical that may be detremental if let loose in the environment have been withdrawn by the EU on the precautionary principle!

I would imagine that the active stuff in Cuprinol is one of them
Don't use old TIPPEX to mark your queens... I think the formulation of that has also been changed.. did it have carbontetrachloride in it?
However this knee-jerk reaction from our sometimes elected MEPs, is due in part to formulations such as DBTD (Dibutyltindichloride) an antifouling paint additive that caused imposex in welks or some other seasnaily beasty ; and other horror compounds, not forgetting DDT, paraquat etc etc, causing governments embarrasment. In the main because they, the chemical companies and the governments, were more interested in getting a quick buck, than" humdrum things such as the environment"
I can not remember the name of the lady prime minister who said that, but I do recall her husband was making a fortune from such environmentally dodgy chemical substances.
But I am not sure this forum is the right place for comments on past political blunders.

The thing that worries me is that HM naval ships apparently are still using DBTD and some places such as golf courses are exempt from using other wise banned substances.

Distilled water and mice... causes a subcutaneous carcinoma if injected under the skin... quite why anyone would want to try that beggars belief............ a bad career move had me studying Toxicology!

However I am sure our bees will benefit by not having to live in a toxic environment!

Ok rant over
I will go back to my corner and rust quietly to myself............. unless anyone can send me some red lead paint!!!!
 
The OP asked whether or not to paint.
I've used clear cuprinol (green tin) without any problems.
 
The OP asked whether or not to paint.
I've used clear cuprinol (green tin) without any problems.

Using the precautionary principle NO DON'T PAINT YOUR HIVES, and fences sheds or anything near to them


and before this thread gets swamped with a debate on DBTD AND more commonly known TBT and the horrid things it does to the marine and other environments... the EU and most other civilised countries have banned it!
BUT the Chinese are still making CFCs....................

Now I am going back into my corner to rust quietly... unless any one else provokes me!!!
 

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