HIVE-THERMAL Thermally Stable Coating for Beehives (5l)

01 · HEAT LOAD

What the hive never takes in does not have to be shifted out later

The colony holds the brood nest within a narrow band, and in summer it holds it by working: fanning at the entrance and hauling water to evaporate inside. Everything the box takes in from the sun ends up leaving that way. Lowering the surface temperature does not change the colony's biology, but it cuts the heat it has to manage, and that is the point of a reflective finish over a dark one.

02 · HOW IT WORKS

Hollow glass microspheres inside the film

This is not an ordinary pale paint: the dispersion carries hollow glass microspheres, spherical and non-porous. On drying they stay embedded in the film and work in two ways: they send back part of the radiation instead of letting it heat the timber, and the air trapped inside them breaks the conduction inwards. The result is a continuous, waterproof membrane that also keeps rainwater out.

03 · APPLICATION

Two coats, and the film thickness is part of the product

It goes on in two coats over the outside of the hive, at a consumption of 0.6 litres per square metre. Film thickness here is not a whim: it is the microspheres that do the work, so spreading the product thin to cover more surface throws away exactly what you are paying for. On bare timber it goes on straight; on a galvanised sheet roof, as with any waterborne product, abrade it first so it keys.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is a product for the summer problem. If your apiary winters somewhere cold with little sun, bear in mind that a reflective finish also sends back the radiation you do want in January: there the call is not automatic. The manufacturer reports a week-long comparative trial in late June with lower internal temperatures than an untreated hive, but does not publish the method, so we give it for what it is: their own trial.