Glad I could help ,that’s what we are here for.
Hope all goes well lm still waiting on my bees.
They are coming from Ontario hopefully this week.
Happy beekeeping 
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My Flow Hive came today! ! Now to get some time off work to get my bees and put it together!
Well…it has now been almost two weeks since we got our package of bees and put them into our FlowHive. Unfortunately the queen received with our package did not make it so we had to make a rush trip back into BeeMaid to pick up a new queen. The second queen within a couple of days was out in the hive, working way! It has been truly amazing to see how much work they have done in such little time. The warm weather and all the blossoms in the area are really helping.
Great to hear everyone else is getting set-up too. Good luck!
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Isn’t is amazing!!! The amount of work they did over the weekend was insane. We have four frames of foundationless frame and they are filling it up with perfect beeswax
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Hello from SW of High River. New to beekeeping this year. Took the beginners course in Airdrie and I’m running two 8 frame Flow Hives alongside a Langstroth for experimental purposes. So far so good, packages went in on Apr. 22…cold weather had me worried for a few days, but they’ve been drawing out comb this past week and although I couldn’t locate my queens, I am seeing eggs in cells. fingers crossed!
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I had to postpone my pickup but managed to go get them on Sunday evening. My phone had been damaged so I didn’t get pictures of the original box but I got these after I put the second box on. I was very fortunate to get this full box of bees, brood and 2016 queen when I inspected the hive I chose to add the second box because of the wonderful condition of the hive. My flow hive came and I have it put together so hopefully we get some honey this year!
Note this is evening so not much activity.
Some new pictures. I purchased some wood frames to try to start some foundationless frames. My colony seems to be doing well I’m looking forward to seeing updates from my neighbours.
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Modified some wooden frames to be foundationless, finished the flow hive and added some shim to hold the frames in place with no room for the bees to get out. And A nice picture of the finished product
Had some extra wood and some time so I solved some problems I think I had. I have the 10 frame super so I don’t have the roof ect and needed to adjust the top some how to allow the door to open and was thinking about a quilting board for winter. I also wanted to use a top entrance so I came up with this. NOTE: I put aluminum screes on the holes to stop bees from entering the top space and have the 3/4 inch “bee space” built in to the board
After a thorough inspection I decided to put the super on today as well hopefuly not to soon but they are over 80% on the brood boxes and the alfalfa and clover have started to bloom in the field. Fingers crossed !!!
Mine are doing well!!! They’re currently filling up the second brood box ( all foundation less) and have gone nuts building honey comb between the upper brood box and lid, it was a honey bath during the last hove check which then attracted bald faced hornets!!! So I stuck an entrance reducer on to help them guard and washed down the outside where the honey spilled!
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Hi there, just east of Edmonton in Ardrossan here. Should I be looking into drilling a hole in the top of my flowhive for winter?? I have 2 of the actual flowhive sets, and am wondering about wintering, controlling humidity in the hive and if a top entrance would be better in the winter because of snow drifting etc that might cover the regular entrance.
Also, now I’m back to trying to figure out an entrance reducer for winter as nothing seems to fit quite right.
And finally, should the hives be closer to the ground for winter instead of up on top of cinder blocks? The up on cinder blocks was to make working on the hive easier on backs by putting things at a higher level. But should I be dropping the hives down closer to the ground to help the hive maintain temp during our cold long winters??
I would consider a hive top quilt box, like this one:
http://www.beethinking.com/collections/parts-accessories/products/langstroth-quilt-box?variant=20610688708
An upper entrance might be a good idea, if you can’t shelter the hives from the snow. I wouldn’t put the hives on the ground. If you just put the plastic core flute slider in the upper slot, that should reduce drafts. You could also consider wrapping the hives with insulation for the winter. You can either buy that from bee supplies shops, or you can make pretty good insulation from the kind of materials you might use in your home. Not pretty, but it really helps the bees. Something like this (but thicker, say 5-8cm thick) could make a big difference:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/R-Matte-Rmax-Plus-3-1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-R-3-2-Polyisocyanurate-Rigid-Foam-Insulation-Board-754404/100572981
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Sorry, Dawn, the plastic core flute slider??
The white corrugated plastic sheet in your screened bottom board. It can slide into 2 positions at the back of the hive. For winter, I think you should have it sliding into the upper slot.
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Hello everyone.
My name is Ryan and I have a Flow hive in my backyard in Edmonton. Just started this year and I’m hoping to get another hive next year.
So far so good this year. Had 2 full brood boxes and a few full flow frames. Also managed to swap out a few frames during the year so I have 4 frames of honey in the freezer come early spring. How did everyone fair out wintering with their hives last winter?
From what I read I may be a little late but I’ll be pulling off my flowhive this week and start feeding 2:1 sugar syrup. Temperatures are still good anyhow.
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