My first thought for a paint finish was to use a commercial fence/shed paint. These come in a wide variety of colours but have some drawbacks. These paints have an insecticide built into them, not good for the bees. After spending time browsing the labels , I could see varying amounts of VOC's. These are the toxic fumes released from the paint as it cures. A lot of the paints in the UK have had the VOC's reduced to minimise their effect on the environment, but they still emit the toxins for months or years after the paint has been applied. They also use a large proportion of heavy metals as binders and colour boosters. Not so good for the environment.

Several years ago, I had to research paint finishes for a friend who got very ill when exposed to fresh paint. This led to finding out about persistent out-gassing from the paints in use at the time and from materials like vinyl floor coverings and resin bonded construction board. A lot of people have low level illnesses from continuous exposure from these products and asthma sufferers need to keep their home free from them. That is when I found out about milk paint.

Milk paint has been used for over 200 years as a finish for furniture and walls. It is still in use today because of its unique finish and to restore antique painted objects. One of the qualities that make it unique in an age of commercially produced, environmentally damaging products, is its very low environmental impact. Also, milk paint will not store for months in a tin, so it is not attractive to the commercial manufacturers. Milk paint residue can be poured onto your garden compost heap without causing damage.

If you do a web search for milk paint recipes, you will find that a lot of people have been producing their own versions, some have been handed down for generations. They all have the same basic ingredients, soured milk, hydrated lime and colour along with various additives like borax, salt, linseed oil and clay. So the ingredients are readily available and the mixing of the paint isn't exactly rocket science.

Actually, no. To produce enough paint for a single hive you only need a few tens of grams of hydrated lime. Unless you have a friend in the building trade, you have to buy a 12.5 kilo bag. We used to find Borax in first aid kits to use as an eye wash. It's now very difficult to buy. I found some in an old first aid kit that must have been more than 30 years old. I bought a litre of milk, put in a warm cupboard and waited 10 days before it started to coagulate! However, perseverance paid off and I managed to produce a couple of test batches.

Hydrated lime isn't expensive and it can be used for a variety of jobs later, or sell it to a builder. Salt seems to work just as well as borax, so if you can't get borax use salt. Buy some cottage cheese, it's easier. All the hard work has been done for you. Milk paint isn't fussy about exact proportions. The following recipe produced a material, which, with more luck than judgement produced a very nice finish.

To one part (by volume) of cottage cheese. (400 ml will make enough for one hive.) Half the volume of hydrated lime. Put the lime in a container and add enough water to just cover it. Leave for several hours or over night. Don't leave it too long because it will start to get gritty. Strain the cottage cheese to remove some of the liquid. Mix the cottage cheese and lime together and add 2 teaspoons of salt or borax. Mix to a smooth paste. Add colour. I used ink from my printer, about 5 ml. You can get poster paint from art shops and even acrilic paints will work. The dry mix will be several shades lighter than the mixture. Stir in some linseed oil a little at a time,. The oil will stay suspended in the mix, but when you can't mix any more, it will separate. Do a test patch on a spare piece of wood and allow to dry, you can then add a bit more colour if you need it. Don't be too worried about the colour as it will be modified by the next process. Paint the hive with the mixture and leave to dry. You should now have a flat solid colour. In principle, you should have a weatherproof finish, but mine didn't feel to be right. I now had a hive which was a very fetching powder puff blue.

No way would I be allowed to put that on display! I now heated some bees wax and linseed oil together in a double boiler (Tin can standing in a saucepan of water). I then brushed that mixture onto the hive, warming it with a hair dryer. The bright blue became a gentle green and the wood grain showed through.

The result is a good weatherproof finish that should last for years. I will be building another top bar hive for this season and I am waiting for an email to say when I can collect some nucs.

An extra little bit. I left one of my test pieces outside in the rain and snow for a couple of weeks. This piece was just plain blue without the modification above. Except for the powder blue colour, I needn't have worried, it seems to be as stable as a commercial paint. The test pieces made without linseed oil, however have washed off.