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Painting Hive Boxes

Overview


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Your hive boxes generally need to be painted to protect the wood from the elements and extend the life of your investment. This is especially true as the boxes are not made from treated wood. Some hives are made from cedar which does not need to be painted; however they are generally rarer to find.

It is hard to paint the boxes once they are in place with a colony of bees, so it is best to paint them before adding them to the hive. I recommend you paint a few extra boxes and keep them in storage so they are ready when needed. This is a good winter maintenance task.

Hives have been traditionally painted white.

I think white hives just came into vogue a long time ago, back in the good old days when houses were white, cars were black, and barns were red. Every farm had a few buckets of whitewash in the shed and by golly, that's what you painted things with. A few rogues probably painted their hives barn red because that's what they had even if their neighbors did ride them about it. Tractors came later and they were green of course, unless they were Internationals and then they were red but tractor paint was expensive compared to good old whitewash.
George Fergusson

Now, it is quite common to have multicolor hives as shown to the right.

What I see most often falls into one of these categories:

  • Paint them all white. This is especially common with commercial beekeepers.
  • Paint them a specific style which makes you happy when you see the hives. This is especially common with hobbyist beekeepers.
    • Lighter colors work best for hotter climates, especially if your hives are in direct sun most or all of the day.
    • Darker colors work best for colder climates.
  • Paint them with the reject paint you can by any store which sells paint. (The local recycling center may have paint you can get for "free".)
  • Get cedar hive boxes.

Additional pictures of this

Usage Notes

How it Works

Notes on Painting Hive Boxes

When painting hive boxes, use non-toxic, low-VOC exterior paint. If the wood was not already primed, you will need 3 coats of paint. Primed wood can usually get by with 2 coats.

Paint only the outside parts of the box. I also paint the top edge of the boxes.

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Disclaimer: eMail comments to me at BeekeepingBoK @ Gmail.com. The process of beekeeping can cause injury or be a health hazard unless proper precautions are taken, including the wearing of appropriate protective equipment.