Gerry Visel wrote:
 
>    I've seen happy bees kept in everything from "painted fine furniture" to
> holey old boxes that had to be more than 50 years old.  They didn't seem
> to mind the outside condition ...
 
Amusing note on this subject:
Each of our children has a hive; for about 6 years now my son has painted
his camouflage.  This hive consistently has very docile bees (new
packages each year) that by far our produces the others.  The worst
tempered, least productive hive is Dad's -- the one painted traditional
white. Of course we name all of our queens, my daughter thinks her dad
just doesn't pick a cute enough name for his queen! Sally