From the chapter on vision in Ronald Riband’s “The Behaviour and Social
Life of Honeybees”:

[Koch, P. (1934)] 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 ½ lb., black 42
lb., brown 40 lb., white 26 ½ 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 hive is
frequently advocated in order to help the bees to identify their own hive;
Koch’s results demonstrate that this system can have disadvantages.

Koch, P. (1934) Farbe der Wohnung und Honigertrag. Krumark.. Imker 24: 333-
5.

Riband goes into more detail on bee vision than does E.O. Wilson in
his “Insect Societies”. After reading both, it appears Wilson likely used
Riband’s book for much of his reference material.

Regards,
Dick Allen