Painting Hive Bodies

[Chef Isaac]

I was wondering if there was a faster way to paint hive bodies. I know some use a spray gun and some stack up boxes and use a rolling pin to paint.

Any other ways?

I have 30 to paint tomorrow and would like to stack them up and paint them somewhat quicky (I have to work all weekend).

Any ideas?

Thank you!

[Tom G. Laury]

Never time to do it right, always time to do it twice.
Use some old boxes until the new ones are really ready for years of use. What would Grandpa have done?

[oldenglish]

spraying is about the fastest way I can think of, I like the roller as it puts a thicker coat on.

[Chef Isaac]

Tom:

I do not mean to do it wrong. I can apply a couple coats on it but I just cant take the time to paint them one by one like I used to do.

[Chef Isaac]

Old: Do you still need to paint the top sides (like where the fame rests are)?

[oldenglish]

Chef, thats where its hard to find a time saving way to do things, the sides are easy no matter how you do it, but getting paint on the edges takes time. About the only short cut is to use a fast drying paint and crank the heat up.

[Tom G. Laury]

Sorry I was a little rude wasn't I? Roller is good for 30 boxes. Airless sprayer will cover a lot of sq' but more paint is wasted. Primer, cure time, finish coat(s), really though you can change out old boxes easy take the time for proper prep & paint on new ones.

[Chef Isaac]

thats assuming one has old boxes!

[Beeslave]

Stack the boxes as high as you can reach. Put board across top with a brick or something else heavy to prevent them from moving while painting. Use heavy nap roller to apply paint then follow up with brush to get hand holds and inside joints spreading paint applied with roller. After set-up it shouldn't take much time to paint all 30. Use a good quality outdoor primer for first coat. The bees will coat the frame rests with wax and propolis over time.

[Terry Small, Jr]

For 30, I would use a roller. Where I work (Farmer Bees) we use a sprayer, but we do several hundred at a time.

The little X shaped plastic spacers intended to be used when setting ceramic tile (Home Depot) will prevent the boxes from sticking to each other.

[Bud Dingler]

buy cypress boxes from Rossman and skip the paint altogether.....

[Chef Isaac]

I painted the boxes and I love the stack and roll method. One question i have is the stick pretty bad and some are hard to take apart. Any tricks?

[redbee]

Just pick the stack of boxes up and drop them on their sides on the floor,they will break apart with no harm done.

[Terry Small, Jr]

Get a bag of ceramic tile spacers from Home Despot and put one on each corner as you stack the boxes. This will leave about a 1/8" gap between each box. Works great, the paint doesn't stick well to the plastic.

[WGB]

Get a bag of ceramic tile spacers from Home Despot and put one on each corner as you stack the boxes. This will leave about a 1/8" gap between each box. Works great, the paint doesn't stick well to the plastic.

Do you get much over spray inside?

[Terry Small, Jr]

It's hard to tell due to how we treat the boxes. First we dilute an oil based primer 50-50 and dip the boxes. They drain on a rack and are then stacked head high using the tile spacers. A scrap box is used on the bottom so we don't have to spray too close to the ground. Then we spray a full strength coat of primer & two coats of paint.

You can't see overspray because the inside of the boxes are already white, though you can still see the grain.

Here's a photo:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...&id=1608293741

[Beeslave]

I painted the boxes and I love the stack and roll method. One question i have is the stick pretty bad and some are hard to take apart. Any tricks?

Work hive tool into side of super(not the end where the endbars go) and pry down. Make sure paint is good and dry. To help insure that the ends don't break score paint between supers with knife. It doesn't have to cut through, it just has to "scratch" in good. I had 1 out of 100 boxes crack on frame rest but I didn't knife between supers.

[Truchaos]

I'm going to make a suggestion that is contrary to what many beekeepers practice.

I've been involved in beekeeping (although not heavily) since the 1970's. Over the years I've taken note as to where super boxes rot. Its my observation that they mainly rot in two places.

First, since most beekeepers don't paint the top and bottom edge of the box (to prevent sticking) the wood absorbs water and begins to rot at the box edges. Also, the dovetails absorb water and rot, but with a little maintenance to a much lesser degree if they're kept painted.

So, years ago I began painting the top and bottom edges of the boxes. When they're dry, I apply a very small quantity of petroleum jelly to the top and bottom edges of the boxes. Just a tiny amount is needed or they'll slide around.

This kills two birds. 1) The boxes last MUCH longer, actually I haven't had any rot 2) They no longer stick together. Just a little tool action is needed. Plus the supers stay looking nicer for a longer period of time.

Since a tiny amount of petroleum is used, it doesn't squeeze out and the bees don't come in contact with it.

It only takes a couple minutes longer to paint the edges and it makes the boxes last longer.

I also suppose that if you didn't paint the edges and still used petroleum jelly, it would also reduce rot. But, I haven't tried that.

[WGB]

I'm going to make a suggestion that is contrary to what many beekeepers practice.

I've been involved in beekeeping (although not heavily) since the 1970's. Over the years I've taken note as to where super boxes rot. Its my observation that they mainly rot in two places.

First, since most beekeepers don't paint the top and bottom edge of the box (to prevent sticking) the wood absorbs water and begins to rot at the box edges. Also, the dovetails absorb water and rot, but with a little maintenance to a much lesser degree if they're kept painted.

So, years ago I began painting the top and bottom edges of the boxes. When they're dry, I apply a very small quantity of petroleum jelly to the top and bottom edges of the boxes. Just a tiny amount is needed or they'll slide around.

This kills two birds. 1) The boxes last MUCH longer, actually I haven't had any rot 2) They no longer stick together. Just a little tool action is needed. Plus the supers stay looking nicer for a longer period of time.

Since a tiny amount of petroleum is used, it doesn't squeeze out and the bees don't come in contact with it.

It only takes a couple minutes longer to paint the edges and it makes the boxes last longer.

I also suppose that if you didn't paint the edges and still used petroleum jelly, it would also reduce rot. But, I haven't tried that.

I'm painting edges as I type this, taking a break, with a roller.

[JohnK and Sheri]

Yes we have always painted edges also.
When we spray the boxes after they are roller primed, we stack them in a manner that the edges are offset a bit from each other, twisted on top of the one beneath it, they are easy to pop apart once dry.
Sheri