I've an old shallow roofed maisemore nuc that's getting scruffy.
It's sun faded and syrup blackened,
the wasps have gnawed into the feeder,the bees have enlarged the entrance( the disc was half shut for their protection) and the previous owner had clearly used a hammer and chisel to open it when propolised.
My own contribution was to overdo the ratchet strap over winter and made the whole thing banana shaped.
My plan is to blank off the rusty mesh and let it see out its days as a bait hive.
I've read the slight translucence of poly is a turn off for bees so I will try painting it.
This goes against the grain for me - chipped flaky paint looks worse than no paint at all.
I'm sure I've seen somewhere that oil
based paint is considered better than house paint as it welds itself to the surface
As the nuc is a mess anyway .......
Any advance on this , experiences etc?
It's sun faded and syrup blackened,
the wasps have gnawed into the feeder,the bees have enlarged the entrance( the disc was half shut for their protection) and the previous owner had clearly used a hammer and chisel to open it when propolised.
My own contribution was to overdo the ratchet strap over winter and made the whole thing banana shaped.
My plan is to blank off the rusty mesh and let it see out its days as a bait hive.
I've read the slight translucence of poly is a turn off for bees so I will try painting it.
This goes against the grain for me - chipped flaky paint looks worse than no paint at all.
I'm sure I've seen somewhere that oil
based paint is considered better than house paint as it welds itself to the surface
As the nuc is a mess anyway .......
Any advance on this , experiences etc?