Painting inside of topbar hive?

Hi everyone.

After a lot of blood, sweat and tears (mostly my tears), my husband has built me a topbar hive with a perspex viewing side panel. It's made of wood plyboard scrap and pine and I'm painting the outside to protect it from the elements with fence paint. I intend to move the entire hive from the ricketty hive we built 2 years ago to this new hive. The bees have only been in the old hive for just over 2 months, so there isn't a lot of comb. I think they lost their queen or swarmed, as there is only 5 bars with comb on it.

:scratch:My question is - should I paint the inside of the hive too? Will this affect the bees? I obviously don't want to cause them to nick off. I've spent too much time on them. Once they are in this hive, I won't touch them again for many months, because I also have the bottom removable for inspections.

Any thoughts are welcome.

Mandy
:s

It is not neccessary or recommended to paint the inside of any hive. The bees will not appreciate the smell (they can smell very well) and it will not be exposed to the elements so it will not rot.
Good luck.

There are plenty of reasons not to paint the inside of hives. If you are using top bar hives because you think they are most natural, painting the inside is the farthest from natural you can get.

Mandy - I agree with Mr.Beeman's advice. :D And I suggest that you may find the Top Bar page of Michael Bush's site useful.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm
Of course, you have already constructed your TBH, so the top part of the page is not pertinent, but the FAQ section lower down may assist you.

Thanks the answers.

I chose a top bar hive, because I couldn't afford to buy a langstroth and had an opportunity to catch a swarm. Unfortunately, that swarm vacated - which is why I had an empty hive for 2 years. :) That's how long it took before I had another opportunity.

I wouldn't paint the inside. The bees will paint the inside with propolis. Besides, they don't care what color the walls are in their home. :)

My usual disclaimer- I have no bees yet, what I know is only what I have read.

It seems you have some doubt as to whether your hive is queenright or not.
Read here- http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfaqs.htm#queenlessbees
Now assuming you are queenright. If I count the months correctly it is late spring there. You have some time, let the bees build up, feed them if you have to, and then when they get going split them into the other hive. every other bar goes, then push the remaining bars together. The half that didn't get the queen will start queen cells. If you can get another queen it will save them time but if you can't they will raise a queen themselves. Feed as necessary to get two strong hives as winter comes (does it come there?). Two hives put you in a much better management position since you can compare their progress and sometimes steal from one to supplement the other. Now build more woodwork and next year do it again.
Good luck and have fun.
Bill

G'day Mandy. I agree with the others, painting the inside is not only a waste of time but would probably upset your bees and they may just take off. Just leave it as raw wood. Do you have some bees to go in yet?