Vol. XV. 



JULY 1, 1887. 



No. 13. 



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PAINTING HIVES. 



WHAT COLOR AND WHAT KIND OF PAINT SHALL 

 WE USB? 



«AVrN<T just finished painting' a lot of bee- 

 hives I thoug-ht a few words on the matter 

 might be of interest to the readers of Glean- 

 ings. In days of box hives, arg;uments were 

 used against painting- hives, some of which 

 were valid, and, to my linowledg'e, the painting- of 

 a hive which is closed bee-tight by wood, top and all, 

 is a great d sadvantage to the rapid breeding of 

 bees in early spring. When I first began keeping 

 bees I had si.x box hives, four of which were paint- 

 ed and two uupainted. 1 liept them three years, 

 and the two unpainted ones always swarmed from 

 a wecli to ten days in advance of the others. On 

 all cool nights the moisture would come out at the 

 entrance of the painted ones, so as to stand in 

 drops of water in the morning; while the unpainted 

 were as dry about the entrance as at mid-day. 

 This caused me to decide against painting hives, 

 so my first frame hives were not painted; but after 

 I began to use bee-quilts, and chaff and sawdust 

 cushions, 1 found that this did away with all the 

 objections to paint, except its cost, for all the 

 moisture arising from the bees readily passed off 

 through the cushions, so the present finds me 

 painting all of my hives. 



WHY paint. 

 My reason for painting hives is. first, durability; 

 and, secondly, looks. As to the looks part, no one, 

 1 think, will venture to say but that a well-painted 

 hive is far more attractive to the eye than an un- 

 painted one; but when it comes to durability, tak- 

 en together with profitableness, some think it 

 would be more profitable not to paint, and renew 



the hive as often as is required. The reason for 

 such a decision lies, I think, in the hives not being 

 properly painted. Most of the painted hives which 

 I have seen are not painted at the most essential 

 points; namely, where the hive sits on the bottom- 

 board, and where the cap, or cover, rests on the 

 hives. All joints where the water can get in and 

 find a lodging are the first places to decay, and 

 need paint there much more than they do on the 

 plain sides of the hive where the wet soon dries 

 out. Properly painted, and kept so, a hive will last 

 a lifetime. 



what COLOR TO PAINT. 



After using nearly all colors on hives, I have 

 come to the conclusion that white is the only satis- 

 factory one to use, for two reasons; the first and 

 greatest of which is, that the bees can be left stand- 

 ing in the sun the year round in hives so painted, 

 and be comfortable, without the lifting and ex- 

 I pense of shade-boards, with no danger of combs 

 melting down; and, second, the right kind of white 

 paint does not want renewing nearly so often by 

 having the oil drawn out of it as do the colors. It 

 is hard work to get any colored paint that will stay 

 good over three years, while white lasts six, eight, 

 and even ten years in very good condition. But 

 for the overworked bee-keeper, the first is of the 

 most importance. A man who can lift a 15 or 20 

 pound stone, a shade-board, and a cover, from each 

 hive (replacing them in tuin) all day, must have an 

 iron constitution, and one which I believe could be 

 more profitably employed, and might be, if, in- 

 stead of thin boards, white paint were used. 



WHAT PAINT TO USE. 



Several years ago the editor of Gleanings rec- 

 ommended the Averill paint as the best for hives, 

 while, if I am correct, he now recommends white 



