Some of my wooden beehives boxes are a bit worn and tired (or just weren’t made too accurately) and only really suitable for use as bait hives. But how to tell them from my other wooden hives that I’m happy to use for settled colonies? Cuprinol “Garden Shades” paint was recommended to me and as it happened some of the flavours were on sale at our local Wickes, so I bought some (“Wild Thyme”, the name of which just appealed to me) and painted all my bait hives with it. They look pretty good.
That done, it occurred to me that I also have a few boxes that aren’t even good enough for bait hives and can only really be used for storage, so I wanted some more of the paint in another colour. One that I really probably wouldn’t want to use “out in the field”. My wife and daughter happened to be passing Wickes so I asked them to get some, but they didn’t have any in stock. Instead they found some own-brand garden furniture paint that was cheaper. The verdict? It doesn’t really cut the mustard. The instructions don’t suggest using more than one coat unlike the Cuprinol product, but it really doesn’t cover that well and needs it anyhow. In the future, I’ll stick with the Cuprinol.