Post-Lorax Project: Painting the Bee Hives

The natural wood color of the hives is so beautiful that we have been contemplating leaving them as is. This would be great if we didn't care about the longevity of the hive in New England weather. Snow, rain, moisture, all these things can cause the wood to warp, rot So we've been looking into different ways of protecting the exterior from the elements.

There are a few things to consider when painting the hive. You don't want to paint the hive all dark colors which attract sunlight, because the hive can overheat, killing the bees. We've been discussing what to do in the winter. Wouldn't dark colors be beneficial in the winter to keep the bees warm? We'll tackle that when we get to it, but we may want to think about placing the hive on dark tarp in the winter to attract sunlight and insulate the hive so we have a higher survival rate. Especially with the crazy weather this year, we don't know WHAT to expect for winter 2013!

We heard that a number of people use Linseed Oil as a natural stain for the wood. We thought we had found a winner. It would allow us to coat the exterior. The wood is light in color so it would naturally reflect sunlight. But alas, we faced two dilemmas with the linseed oil. When you use raw linseed oil as a stain it takes weeks to dry or never fully dries at all. Unfortunately we don't have that amount of time since the bees are arriving on Saturday. The other problem: manufacturers will boil linseed oil and then add solvents to speed up the drying process. These solvents include arsenic, beryllium, chromium, cadmium and nickel which are carcinogenic and lead which cause birth defects. Needless to say we didn't want to expose ourselves to this, let alone the bees.

We also heard from John, the carpenter we bought the hive from, that oil-based paints are not good for the bees. In the heat, oil-based paints may release volatile fumes that are harmful for the bees. He recommended that if we paint the hive, we use latex-based acrylic paint. So in the face of time constraints and picking paint that is safe for the bees, we've chosen to use primer and latex-based paint.

Only the outside of the boxes and the edges should be painted. The bees cover the interior with propolis, a substance they make out of sap, wax and honey, that protects the interior from rot.

A little tip: after painting each box, either put wax paper in between before you stack them up or lay them side by side. You don't want the boxes sticking together!