No, they can be painted just about any color....except I do know that bees don't like black or royal blue.
My hives will be in dappled sun in the northeast here, so they can really be any colors and don't need to be white at all. I actually picked out 3 pretty colors to mix-n-match in the two stacks of hive boxes.
That is so neat. I wonder if the black/blue thing is because it's dark, rather than the color. I may have to do some curious googling.
I'd love to see pictures.
My photoblog http://dragons-fly-peacefully.blogspot.com/
Bacchetta Giro (recumbent commuter)
Bacchetta Corsa (recumbent "fast" bike)
Greespeed X3 (recumbent "just for fun" trike)
Strada Velomobile
I will never buy another bike!