Types of hives

Nowadays, there are quite a large number of bee houses. Some of them require mandatory painting, for some it is optional. Now there is a lot of controversy about whether it is necessary to paint wooden products, because when you apply a layer of paint, it makes it difficult to ventilate the hive and can negatively affect the microclimate.

This could lead to consequences in the form of high humidity and other negative factors. Still, it is necessary to consider this issue separately for each apiary and family, because the need for painting can be judged by several factors:

1. Habitat area;
2. Material of manufacture;
3. Breed of bees.

A hive is being made most often made of wood, It is precisely such systems that we will talk about in our article. However, there are designs that are increasingly meet, and they are made made of expanded polystyrene. This hive is quite cheap, lightweight and easy to manufacture.

Painting such a hive is mandatory. The paint that is best suited for this material is water-based paint. In addition to the fact that they will look great, this will protect the material from exposure to ultraviolet rays of the sun. Usually, when purchasing such a house, the kit already comes with a special primer and water-based paint.

Before painting, it is necessary to apply a layer of primer to the hive to smooth out any unevenness. Re-priming may be required. Only then you need to carefully apply the paint from a spray bottle.

The disadvantages of the design include low strength and the fact that some breeds of bees behave poorly in a hive made of this material; there are cases that some breeds tried to gnaw through its walls.

In our opinion, it is rather wrong to choose this material, but everyone is free to choose at their own discretion.

Sometimes you can meet combined systems , where, for example, the main lower body is made of wood, and the magazines are made of a different material.

Wooden hives are most often made from one type of wood, since further exploitation they are processed evenly and have the same characteristics. It happens that in multi-hull structures there are parts made of various types tree.

In most cases, this does not affect the family structure in any way; it is only necessary to carry out technical control in a timely manner. Some tree species are more susceptible to foulbrood or insect infestation. They also have different levels of resin content, which also needs to be taken into account.

When choosing a wooden hive, you need to consider the pros and cons that appear during the painting process. First of all, it must be said that the external painting of the hive is done solely for the safety and greater use of the structure.

Advantages of painting:

• Protection against rotting and cracking due to temperature changes;
• Cost savings due to increased service life;
• Makes it easier for bees to find their hive.

The only disadvantage of applying a paint coating is that it reduces air ingress, thereby increasing the humidity inside the house.

Attention!If the moisture inside the structure increases, there is a possibility of infection by foulbrood from the inside, so the internal walls of the hive must also be treated before settling with a bee.

Paint, its characteristics and requirements for painting

There are several types of paint that are most often used:

• Oil;
• Acrylic;
• Serebryanka;
• Liquid glass.

Acrylic- Maybe, best paint. It has good durability and UV resistance. At correct application can last up to 15 years. The advantage of this coating is that it does not interfere with gas exchange, allowing air to pass through it, providing ventilation inside the structure without disturbing the microclimate.

It has a water base, dries quickly and is easy to apply. It is also a more environmentally friendly product. Can be easily washed off if necessary.

Only new houses should be painted with this paint; it should be applied to old paint coating unacceptable.

Before painting, you need to make sure that the day is sunny and hot, that the surfaces are dry and clean, then apply a special primer, wait until it dries, and apply acrylic paint.

It can be used for different surfaces, not necessarily only for wooden material. Also check - it must be a façade, only for exterior work.

Oily- also a pretty good paint. After acrylic, perhaps it will be the best option for application. It is more durable and after drying it leaves only a slight odor, which disappears after a short period of use. Only the outer walls need to be painted.

Do not treat the interior walls under any circumstances. If the hive is new, you can apply it to the inner walls if desired. thin layer propolis, but you can do without it, the insects will do everything for you. The recommended interval after which repainting should be done is approximately 3-5 years.

Serebryanka– very rarely used for painting the walls of a house. It is very good to use it for painting the roof. It has ultraviolet repellent properties, which allows the hives not to overheat in the hot summer. You can also find apiaries where it is applied to the side and back walls, however there is no need to do this.

Liquid glass– recently you can find such a coating. For some, it is preferable to all others. Firstly, this is a fairly inexpensive method, and secondly, its characteristics are even better than those of acrylic paint. It is advisable to cover the walls with this material at least three times, and each layer should be applied to the well-dried previous one.

Worth knowing!Liquid glass will increase the life of your hive several times. When used, it reliably protects the walls and prevents bees from chewing through it.

Is it worth painting the hive?

Before choosing a paint color, pay attention to the fact that the bee best distinguishes between the following colors:

• Yellow;
• Blue;
• Red;
• White.

When painting the front walls, try to use these in most cases. color schemes. This will make it easier for her to navigate the space and easier to find her home.

There is another advantage to this - an accurate determination of the family’s location. This saves the bee from the fact that when searching for a place to live and flying into neighboring ones, it can bring with it any disease that could infect a neighboring colony.

If you have evidence without these flowers, still try to paint at least the entrances. Make your pet's life easier.

Generally speaking, it is, of course, difficult. winter period The bees spend their time in wooden houses, untouched by paint. During this difficult period, ventilation and dryness inside are needed more than ever.

Of course, the bee itself creates the microclimate inside the nest, but we need to help this as much as possible.

You've probably seen many beehives with beautiful, humorous designs on them.

Don’t be shy, because if the apiary is located on your personal plot and there is no need to take it to the honey collection site, this will greatly decorate your interior, teach young people not to be afraid of these insects, and subsequently help them think about continuing their hobby. After all, as you know, a bee is not only worries and troubles, but also rest for the soul.

After all the work on arranging the apiary and creating the hives, the beekeeper must paint them. How and when to paint hives, what color is best to paint. We will describe all this in more detail.

Pros and cons of painting hives

Not all beekeepers paint bee houses. But there are significant advantages to painting them that make it worth doing such work:

1. Since hives are made of wood, painting them can prolong their service life. Thanks to the paint, the boards are protected from moisture, temperature changes, and ultraviolet rays. This way they will last much longer.
2. It is much easier for the bees themselves to navigate the apiary if each hive is painted a different color. At the same time, working women do not waste time and effort searching for a home, get lost less, do not wander around the apiary and do not expose it to unnecessary contamination.
3. Due to the longer use of painted hives and the fact that in this state they are not susceptible to rotting and fungi, the beekeeper saves time and money.
4. True, when painting, there are also disadvantages. Although there are few of them, for some beekeepers this is a sufficient reason not to paint bee houses at all:
5. It is believed that wintering is much more successful if the hive is not painted. Thus, clean boards that are not coated with paint are better able to remove moisture without interfering with natural gas exchange.
6. Even if you choose “breathable” paints, gas exchange is still disrupted. In some cases, this may interfere with the life of bees.
7. You need to periodically renew the paint, be able to apply it correctly, and this extra work in the apiary.

Whether to paint the hive or not is up to you. And if your decision is in favor of coloring, then it is important to find out some recommendations on this matter.

Which paint to choose

You can cover the hive with the most different colors. Today there is huge selection, and therefore it is not immediately possible to understand their advantages. And yet, most often beekeepers choose only three of them:

• Oil-based is not very durable, it lasts for three to four years. The advantage is that it dries quickly and leaves no odor. This important nuance for bees.
• Acrylic is more durable, its service life can last even 15 years. When coated with such paint, gas exchange in the hive is not disrupted, it does not prevent moisture from escaping, which is very valuable. Main feature– it cannot be applied to previously painted hives, and therefore it is important to preparatory work with the surface before applying the acrylic coating.
• Serebryanka is essentially aluminum powder made from shavings. It is used not so much for painting the walls of hives, but for covering the roof of a bee house. This paint reflects ultraviolet rays well and prevents the house from heating up in the summer. Moreover, it reflects electric fields, and does not deteriorate for a long time from environmental influences.

You can also choose to paint the hive and liquid glass, lime with milk, mineral paints, etc. But such options are less convenient and profitable, and therefore experienced beekeepers rarely choose them.

The importance of color

It would seem that you can paint the hives in the apiary in a variety of colors. It will be beautiful, and it will be easy for the beekeeper to navigate between them. And yet, it is recommended to paint the hive only in four colors - blue, yellow, indigo and white. It could be different combinations these colors, but it is important that each hive, or at least part of it, is different from the neighboring one. This is the only way the bees will be able to navigate and quickly find their home. This choice of color is justified - insects are able to clearly distinguish only these four colors. Everyone else is indistinguishable and faceless to them.

Video: preparing and painting hives.

In order for the work of painting bee houses to be carried out efficiently, you need to follow certain recommendations:

1. Before applying paint, it is advisable to sand the surface, clean off the previous coating, level it and cover it with putty.
2. Such work should be carried out in dry and warm weather, so that the paint has time to dry quickly and the hive itself has time to ventilate. Summer is most often chosen. But you can do this in winter or spring, ahead of time. And when you release the bees from the winter hut in the spring, you can immediately move them into a repaired and painted hive, and take the old one for repair work.
3. Important – the middle of the hive is never painted! This way you will only disrupt gas exchange, and people will gather in the house excess moisture, which will lead to illness and deterioration in the family’s ability to work. The inside of the hive is covered only with propolis.

• 1. Purpose of painting
• 2. What and how to paint
• 3. Which paint to choose
• 4. Color
• 5. Rooms
• 6. Repainting

The last stage of making hives is painting. But, since the parts of the bee house are unified and are constantly removed, added, and swapped, they are rarely painted as such.

Purpose of painting

Like any other action, painting hives also has its own meaning, for example:

• protective. The tree is susceptible to the harmful effects of bad weather, microorganisms, insects, rodents;
• for orientation. Different color helps bees and queens find their way home, and the beekeeper can better navigate among hives painted differently;
• aesthetic. It's more beautiful this way.

All about painting a hive

What and how to paint

Brush, roller, spray - anything works. Usually, the choice is made depending on the number of hives or parts that require painting. The fastest way, of course, is with a spray.

To paint well, and not for one season, you must follow these steps:

1. For easy access, place the hives or their parts on slats.
2. If there are roughness, chips, protruding fastening parts (nails, screws, corners) or poorly nailed carrying handles, then all this must be corrected.
3. Primed is a must, otherwise the paint won’t last long! If you haven’t bothered with buying a special primer, then the work is carried out with the same paint, but thinner, more diluted with a solvent.
4. And the last step is painting itself, but only after the primer or previous layer has completely dried.

Spray painting the hive

It is better to do the work on outdoors, since inhaling solvent vapors does not add health. In bad weather it is possible under a canopy.

Which paint to choose

Any paint is suitable for the base, except water-soluble ones, but the can should say “for external use”, because the majority of hives are standing under open air and are subject to harmful effects precipitation.

Nitro enamels are on average more expensive, drying oils are cheaper, but take longer to dry. Automotive or aerosol cans are suitable, but there is no need to overpay, and there are no significant advantages over “regular” paints, from the point of view of bees and beekeepers.

When painting hives made from foam plastic, you must first make sure that the material is not damaged by the solvent. They only paint the outside inner surface don't touch.

Color

The bee's vision spectrum is shifted towards shorter wavelengths compared to humans. They don’t see red, but they can distinguish ultraviolet.

“Ultraviolet” paints exist, but are rarely on sale. And there is no need to apply colors that are indistinguishable to the beekeeper, just as there is no need to apply red - the bees will not see it.

Typically used are white or light shades of blue, green, yellow. Beekeepers prefer light ones, due to the desire not to overheat the hives in hot weather: dark walls unnecessarily heat up the houses in direct sunlight.

Painting one body in several colors is necessary on queen-breeding farms if the entrances of a multi-place hive are located nearby. Thus, it is easier for the queens to navigate when returning from the mating flight. For them, unlike bees, wandering is fatal: an “extra” female that arrives will simply be killed. This type of painting is a little more difficult and takes a little longer.

It only makes sense to paint or mark the hive in a different way, perhaps for aesthetics. This is done in beehives at the dacha, sometimes in educational or exhibition apiaries. It looks much more beautiful, but has no noticeable value for the bees, and takes much more effort.

Numbers

Numbering helps the beekeeper in his work. But drawing a number on the wall through a stencil during production is a bad idea, because it is assigned not to the hive, but to the queen. They moved the family, separated them, changed the uterus - the number changes. Therefore, it is better not to draw, but to use a tag on a hook or magnet.

Sometimes it is convenient to mark something on the hive, but using paint for this is too troublesome. Many people take a pencil or chalk - and it’s convenient to write and doesn’t get in the way. For example, mark each dose of syrup given in the fall with a dash.

Repainting

Well-made hives last longer, as does the paint on their surface. But if they are already starting to peel off, then it’s worth repainting. Everything said above about painting is fine, but there are a few additional notes:

• we select the same color or close to the previous one: if the remains of the old coating are visible somewhere, the appearance will not deteriorate;
• rip off old layer necessary only when peeling it off; if it holds firmly, you can leave it. This work can be conveniently performed with a special attachment on a screwdriver, grinder, or drill;
• A hive that has already served is sometimes slightly damaged, especially at the joints. Therefore, first we putty all the cracks, and correct any flaws we notice.

Painting hives is economically profitable; the costs of materials and labor are offset by the fact that bee homes last longer. In addition, colorful bee houses more convenient for work both for the beekeeper and insects.

Due to the low speed of air carrying the paint material, the HVLP gun must be held closer to the surface to be painted (at a distance of 15-20 cm instead of 20-25 cm). At the same time, coloring becomes more accurate and more material falls on the product.

Disadvantages of the HVLP system include lower productivity (about 200 g/min under normal conditions) and high consumption compressed air. In addition, HVLP guns do not provide sufficient atomization of paints with a viscosity of more than 25 seconds. B34.

Comparative analysis of all spray systems http://optimumteh.ru/content/kraskopult-ruchnoi

Painting technology RP, HVLP, LVLP, Trans Tech

Conventionally, at the moment we have the following basic spraying technologies (applying paint and other paints and varnishes):

LVLP, HP, HVLP, RP, Trans Tech

These technologies differ in the amount of compressed air consumed for their operation and the transfer coefficient of paints and varnishes. So, if a master constantly worked with a spray gun of one technology, and then switched to a spray gun with a different technology, he may have problems with applying paint because... it was simply not taken into account the volume of the compressor that supplies compressed air for normal operation equipment.

Now let's look at these technologies in more detail:

HP technology is the very first technology to emerge; if you don’t go into details, it can be conditionally explained as follows: the pressure of compressed air at the outlet of the paint sprayer is equal to the pressure of compressed air at its inlet. But this technology has the lowest transfer coefficient of paints and varnishes - only 45%, everything else flies into the air. At the same time, the spray gun itself consumes from 200 to 300 liters of compressed air per minute.

LVLP technology - Use low pressure and a small volume of compressed air. Makes it possible to save money and, accordingly, use weaker compressors. Also, this technology significantly saves and paint and varnish materials. The transfer rate exceeds 75%.

HVLP technology – High volume and low pressure, the inlet pressure is reduced to 0.7 bar, and at the spray gun outlet the pressure reaches 2 - 2.5 bar. The transfer coefficient is more than 65%, but to use spray guns of this technology, a productive and powerful compressor because such spray guns can consume up to 400 liters of compressed air.

RP technology - partially corrected the shortcomings of the previous technology. The main difference is the low pressure at both the inlet and outlet of the spray gun. The inlet pressure is approximately 1-1.2 bar, the outlet pressure is about 2 bar. But here you can use less efficient compressors. Such spray guns are not so demanding on the volume of compressed air. Average consumption is approximately 300 liters per minute. The transfer coefficient is also more than 65%.

It is also necessary to take into account that different manufacturers these technologies can have different names and have their own trademarks. For example, SATA, a German manufacturer, adheres to the names of HVLP and RP technologies. The Japanese manufacturer IWATA sticks to the LVLP names. WALCOM, Italy - NR. Manufacturer: DeVilbiss, UK – Trans Tech. Thus, when choosing a spray gun, you must take into account the characteristics of the compressor to which the spray gun you have chosen will be connected, and in this case it will be your reliable assistant and will never let you down when carrying out painting work.

When the beekeeper completes the construction of the hive, it is necessary to choose a paint to paint it. Staining helps protect wood from high humidity, temperature fluctuations and rotting. The painting process is very important stage, which extends the life of the hive and also reduces future financial expenses. It should be noted that bees are not able to distinguish all colors, and it can be difficult for them to find their home. Choose your paint color with this feature in mind.

Disadvantages and advantages of painting

Many beekeepers are concerned about the question of what color to choose, as well as what paint to use - silver, acrylic or oil. Painting has its pros and cons, which you need to know in advance.

Advantages of painting:

• with the help of a special color you will make the life of bees easier, so they can easily navigate in space;
• Basically, hives are made of wood, so they deteriorate over time. The hive is affected by a number of negative factors - temperature fluctuations, dampness, high humidity air. Thanks to painting, wood remains in good condition much longer than without paint.

At the same time, due to the paint, moisture exchange is disrupted, so the bees have some difficulties, especially during the wintering period, the hive becomes stuffy. Despite the disadvantage presented, wooden hives need to be painted, be sure to choose matching colors for bees.

Features of paint selection

The exterior of the house is painted using oil paints, as it is very reliable and durable. When it dries completely, the specific smell will go away, which is extremely important for the health and life of the bees, otherwise they may become poisoned.

It is strictly forbidden to paint the inside of the hives, so as not to disrupt the exchange of moisture and gases. In a similar way, the general atmosphere in the hive is ensured, thanks to natural wood control is carried out. If you paint it, all valuable properties will be lost.

The inside of the hive is covered with propolis. This natural product, which does not affect the processes of internal gas exchange. Bee glue has an important advantage - it has an antimicrobial effect.

1. Features of acrylic paint:

• the safety of bees is not compromised;
• internal gas exchange is excellent;
• perceives the influence of UV;
• no unpleasant odors;
• can last about fifteen years;
• Do not use on painted surfaces;
• easy to apply and clean.

2. Serebryanka:

• this is a kind of aluminum powder;
• it is intended for painting the covers of hives, back and side walls;
• does not swell;
• reflects the sun's rays, therefore avoiding overheating of the bees and the hive in summer.

3. Oil paints:

• they are very resistant to external influences;
• after drying, the pungent odor goes away;
• Suitable for exterior painting of houses.

Please pay special attention on colors, as this is extremely important. These insects distinguish well between yellow and white, blue and blue colors. These colors are usually chosen for painting.

Main features of acrylic paints

Many beekeepers prefer to use acrylic paint, as it meets all existing safety rules:

• does not change the breathability of the hives;
• is environmentally friendly;
• quite durable, namely 15 years. Oil paint withstands no more than 4 years;
• does not change its color as a result of exposure to sunlight;
• an important advantage is adhesion, therefore it can be applied to any surface, namely fiberboard, wood and concrete, plywood and even plaster;
• easy to use, dries quickly;
• easy to care for and wash;
• It is considered waterproof and prevents the formation of fungus.

Preparing the hive for coloring

To begin with, the existing unevenness is smoothed out, cracks are removed so that the colors lie in an even layer. For this purpose, putty is used. Acrylic paint lays on an unpainted wooden surface. If used conifer, then first it is degummed using soda ash. The solution is heated at a temperature of sixty degrees, then wiped with a brush and rinsed with warm water. To remove the resin, turpentine is also used, then again rinsed with warm water. The paint is used for exterior painting, it is called façade.

Choosing a color palette

Colors play an important role in creating houses. Insects successfully distinguish between yellow, blue and blue and white. Otherwise, the individuals will get lost and will not return home, since the color acts as a reliable guide. If you paint all the houses the same color, repaint the front of the hive or choose a different color for the fly boards. This way, you will prevent insects from wasting time and energy searching for hives.