Exterior Paint or Varnish??

[Chrisd4421]

Hi all,
     My first every equipment arrives in 3-4 days with a 5-frame nuc arriving in May. I ended up buying Brushy Mountains 8-Frame (all Medium) Garden Hive kit which is made all Cypress.  Is there an advantage to painting?  I would much rather leave natural or if I have to do something maybe a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax (50/50). 

Can someone help me here?  Are there any other alternatives?

Thanks
Chris 

[John Schwartz]

Lot's of opinions either way, no hard-and-fast rule here. Depends on weather, wood, personal prefs, etc etc. I've done all three that you mention. All have some merit.

[AllenF]

And it depends on what you already have on hand.  There is really no right or wrong way to do it.   If the varnish is sitting in your garage use it.  If you are like me and have several old buckets of exterior paint turning chunky, paint them good and thick.  Do whatever you think looks best.

[Scadsobees]

I have a few I've left all natural, and they end up turning grey and black and streaky.  Not pretty, fine for sitting out in a field somewhere, but I don't care for that in my backyard.  So I'm going to paint them at some point.

I'd recommend putting something on them, if only the linseed/beeswax or a deck stain.  You may need to reapply periodically to maintain them if you want to keep them nice.

Rick

[Michael Bush]

I have not painted many hives...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#stoppainting
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnotinvented.htm#notpainting

it's my second favorite finish... right after boiling them in beeswax and rosin...

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesdipping.htm

[csalt]

I varnished my cypress hives about 6 months ago with sparr helmsmen i think it's called, got it from home depot. They look brand new so far but I havn't gone through the florida summer yet. It realy brings out the wood grain.