Beehive paint 

Painting your beehive is important for the longevity of the hive housing your colony. The paint layer provides protection for both wooden and plastic beehives. We can divide the surfaces of the beehive into different parts, namely: the outside of a wooden beehive, the outside of a plastic beehive, and the inside of both a wooden and a plastic beehive. In practice, the inside of a plastic beehive is never painted. On plastic beehives only the exterior surfaces are painted. For painting the inside of the plastic feeder, a special feeder varnish (Biosana varnish) can be used. When painting wooden beehives it is very important to cover the end grain thoroughly to prevent water ingress in rain. The inside of a wooden beehive is also not treated with paint, but you can treat it with, for example, Propoleum. You paint a beehive to make it last longer and to protect it against the weather. An unpainted wooden hive will quickly deform or warp due to moisture, and a plastic hive will weather over time under UV light.

Showing 1 - 56 of 56 items
Showing 1 - 56 of 56 items

Which paint is best for painting a wooden beehive?

For wooden beehives we recommend BeeFun® wooden beehive paint. This is a natural paint with no chemical additives, ideal for animal housing such as the beehive. When you treat a beehive with this paint, it can go straight onto the compost heap at the end of its service life. This paint offers solid protection against the weather in the Netherlands and is made in Germany. If you still want to use a chemical paint that applies a kind of plastic film to the hive, we recommend a water-based paint such as acrylic paint. This is, of course, less eco-friendly.

A newer practice is to also treat the inside of the wooden beehive. This is painted with Propoleum. This extends the hive’s service life because moisture penetrates less. Propoleum can also be used very well on the outside of the beehive, preserving the beautiful natural color of the wood. If you use Propoleum on the outside too, you should touch up the hive regularly.

Which paint is best for plastic beehives?

For plastic beehives we recommend BeeFun® paint for plastic beehives. This paint contains a pigment that specifically forms a dense layer on the hive’s plastic material (such as foam, EPS, polystyrene) to block UV radiation. As a result, the material hardly/does not degrade under sunlight. This paint is available in small 250 ml bottles and larger 750 ml bottles. If you also want to paint the inside of your plastic beehive, you could use the Biosana feeder tray varnish. This helps seal the seams in the plastic, making it less susceptible to mold. In principle this varnish is mainly intended to make the feeder easier to clean after use, because it seals the micro-pores in the plastic.

Beehive maintenance

Of course you also need to maintain your beehive. This means repainting the beehive from time to time. A beehive in a bee house will need far less maintenance than a beehive standing outdoors. Plastic hives hardly need repainting, but small dents and damage that occur during use can be touched up with polystyrene repair paste. How often you need to paint wooden beehives depends on the weather exposure the hive faces. In a bee house, perhaps once every 10 years. Outdoors, without shelter, perhaps every two or three years. A beehive treated with Propoleum should receive a new protective coat every year. During the summer season you can swap parts so you have time to touch up components from previous years in the fall.

Brushes and rollers for painting

To make it even easier, we also sell the tools to paint your beehive, such as brushes and paint rollers. That way you can get started right away when you order your hive and paint together. A roller is convenient for larger surfaces of the beehive and gives a smooth, even finish. A brush is useful for joints and edges.


Menu

Login