Im not sure exactly what it means but in your reply about paint vs oil you
mentioned most hives are white. Probably so, mine are because it just seems
to fit no other reason. Let me tell you a story. about ten years ago my son
and daughter were very small about 5 and 3 years old. I got a bunch of
hives set up the boxes, and spray painted like crazy. The kids wanted their
own hives so I said good. They wanted to paint their own boxes, that
sounded like fun so I set them up and they painted with spray cans. My
daughter Painted hearts through masks I made , all over her hive especially
over the flight entrance. My wife Sally thought this was great fun so she
painted hearts on hers also. My son? He wanted military camoflage of
course. We got out some greens ,some browns and a black can of paint I
painted for him mostly and we wound up with a stack of supers wonderfully
camoflaged. The point? The camoflaged supers have far out performed the
others in every consitently over the years. The hives with the red hearts
all over and especially over the entrance did well. Oh and my plain white
ones always did worst. My conclusion is that Bees dont care about color ,
they simplylike women and children better than men. But just incase I will
paint my hives earth tones,and camoflage.
 
Jerry Fries