" dark blue 48 lb., black 42 lb., brown 40 lb.,
white 26 lb., light green 22 lb., pink 21 lb. "

Interesting data.  Could be as simple as dark colors are warmed in spring resulting in a week or two earlier brooding resulting in better populations for the spring flow.  Or dark colors warm faster in the morning so those hives fly an hour earlier.  Might just be a local effect that would not translate to someplace 500 miles away due to different environmental conditions between sites.  My point is this is one data point.  In general you need several data points to draw a general conclusion.  So, I would not rush out and paint all my hives black based on this one data point.

Dick

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