Hi all
Back in the old books again, this one's a winner. 

C. R. RIBBANDS, in 1953, tell us:

Koch, P. (1934) approached colour preferences from another
viewpoint. He reported that he had kept 28 colonies in one
apiary for 14 years, and that during this time the hives had
always been painted six different colours. The average honey
yields from the differently coloured hives had shown consistent
differences, thus: dark blue 48 lb., black 42 lb., brown 40 lb.,
white 26 lb., light green 22 lb., pink 21 lb. This result indicates
that bees had shown a preference for darker-coloured
hives and had drifted to these from the others. In Europe, where
colonies are usually kept close together in beehouses, the painting
of hives is frequently advocated in order to help the bees
to identifY their own hive; Koch's results demonstrate that this
system can have disadvantages.

¶

Of course, one can disagree with the idea they had "a preference." It might be more correct to suggest that these hives were more noticeable, standing out from the surroundings. Green and pink (which to bees appears light grey) would not stand out very much from the surroundings while dark blue and black.

PLB

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