Hive colour?

[Powisden]

I'm hoping against hope that this is truly not a stupid question but here goes lol...is the colour of a hive important? I ask because I made a TBH out of an old box I have that was painted black. It will be next year before any bees go into it so I have plenty of time to change the colour should it be better to have a light colour instead of black.

[Spear]

Well I would think that a lighter colour would be better so it dosen't get to hot in the hive. but otherwise the colour of the hive is not a problem. My hives are all painted all colours of the rainbow.

[Powisden]

Heat is one condition here that won't bother the bees any LOL - I wish! I'll leave it black then.

Thank you.

[Steel Tiger]

Heat is one condition here that won't bother the bees any LOL - I wish! I'll leave it black then.

Thank you.

You probably don't want to leave it black. The solar gain it could receive on a nice sunny, summer day could crank the inside of the hive to well above 120 degrees.

[Powisden]

I'm going to put a max/min thermometer in it this summer to monitor the temps to get a rough idea how hot it could get in there. If it gets that hot I may crawl into it myself lol.