It is not necessary to paint your supers, a.k.a. bee boxes. However, it does increase their useful life, as it cuts down on rot. Use any exterior paint. Interior paint will blister and not last very long. You can use oil or latex, but we prefer to use exterior latex because it dries faster and generally has less fumes.
You don't have to stick with white. If you only have a few boxes, you can customize them to your liking. A friend of mine painted her bee hives to be quite pretty and colorful. A seasoned bee keeper that I know buys off-colored exterior paint sold at a discount. His hives are also quite colorful, but he really doesn't care...he jut wants the wood protected. White, pretty, or mismatched as mismatched can be... I don't think the bees have much of a preference!
When you paint your bee boxes, only paint the outside...not the inside. My husband did want to add that when you paint your wooden covers, to extend the paint line an inch or two inside the cover to help protect against blowing rain. And...he always does two coats. Some folks prefer the metal covered tops, and those don't need to be painted.
Theoretically, the painting of bee boxes happens in a heated indoor shed in the winter months. This is the best way, and leaves the rest of the year to leisurely tend your bees. Reality has a funny way of stepping in to this thought process though, and I am sure we are not the only beekeepers who have ever been painting in spring and hoping bugs don't land in the paint...
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