Beekeeping Basic Essentials - What do you need?

The Full Flow hive is no different to owning the other types of hives, be it Langstroth, Warre’ or Top Bar, you will need the same gear i.e. a suit or veil, hive tool, smoker. Is this what you mean? Or do you mean suppliers in your region?
As for the bees, there are several methods for obtaining them, they are:
• Retrieve a swarm
• Relocate an existing colony from an undesired or unsuitable location
• Purchase a package of bees
• Purchase a nucleus hive (Nuc)
• Purchase a hive with bees

The most common method for new beekeepers is either Nuc or a Package, it depends on what is available in your region.

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Hi. what makes langstroth so different from the other types of hives?

Nothing really, They are all just variations on a theme. A box of some sort, length, height, width and shape determined by hive style and frames that are built to fit within the hive box leaving ‘bee space’ but not much else.

The various arrangements stack them up or side by side, or both sometimes with hybrid designs.

Some have a larger foot print but allow easier access to all the areas of the hive with less effort on the part of the bee keeper. Some have a smaller footprint and need less room over all, but need to be shifted and moved around to access the different areas of the hive for inspection.

I don’t think the bees really honestly care much one way or the other. After all, feral bees build their nests in all sorts of shapes. and sizes.

Mostly people care because they have issues with how to best manage the bees and some set ups seem easier to some people, while other folks find different arrangements suit them best.

Google Rose Topbar Warre and National to compare the basic variations.

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Top bar would be used more for the wax. So that’s not the route I want to go.

Out of experience which ones are easier to use and get honey from?

In the Top Bar Hive (TBH) the bees make their own wax, all of the other types of hive can use foundation, strips or let the bees build natural comb to the sizes they require - more natural…

Cost of buying foundation varies according to the quality, quantity, wired, un-wired, thickness, cell size and how much you want to use.

Bees making their own wax is said for every pound of Wax made, it takes 6-12lbs of Honey to produce.

Some Beeks give the bees a start and use foundation, some choose smaller or larger cell sizes if they want drone comb, large workers or small workers, as they beleive this may help with pests - unproven

You have to decide whether the first year you want healthy comb or lots of honey. Bees Building their own comb are said to be healthier.

Some wax from the suppliers is mixed old wax from other bee keepers and may harbour toxins

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Sorry I can’t resist :). Of course the flow hive is the easiest to get honey from.
We chose the langstroth hive as it is one of the more common hives used around the world. But it is possible to adjust the length of the flow frames to fit different hives.

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If you want honey more than wax and you want a lot and can handle the weight, using a deep brood box for a super works best. The Lang Deeps can get you close to 100 pound of honey during a heavy flow. You have to keep in mind though that picking one up can be quite strenous if you work by your self. What I do is bring extra empty deeps and extra tops and take out the frames, remove the bees back into their hives and walk the honey filled frames to the empty boxes to my waiting truck. I replace those removed frames with new frames or frames that just have been cleaned by bees. By the end of last season I had pulled 2400 pounds of honey and it averaged 75-80 pounds per deep box. I did have 4 medium supers at the time as well, but they seem to average @ 30-50 pounds. I now use those for wintering the hives by letting them fill up and give them extra honey for their winter supply. I use only deep langs for supers and have queen excluders as well, but didn’t always use the excluders and still wound up with gorgeous golden clover honey. I find that as I sell my honey more people want wax included so I will sometimes scrape the frame and put that wax inside the jars I bottle which to me is more gimicky than actually worthwhile except for profit. I will also allow bee parts and pollen inside so that instead of a three tiered strainer I will go with one and catch only the biggest bee parts. Jars will end up with small bee parts and pollen and small bits of wax inside which is also a quick seller.

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Good stuff.
My customers like cut comb with cells of pollen in too. The pollen tastes of sherbet :slight_smile:

I didn’t know it tasted like sherbert. I eat honey everday and right now it’s goldenrod which is more sugary than clover but this bit of goldenrod was not even strained so I think I’m getting a good dose of pollen with each spoon.

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Interesting, I have heard pollen is very bitter in flavor. Maybe it is the variety being collected?

Next time you are at the hives pick up a few bits of spilt pollen. You might be surprised :smile:
Neat pollen as dropped by the bees tastes like being inside a flower. The pollen in cells is mixed with honey and propolis.

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And I bet that propolis is bitter in taste. I have never tasted it, but given that it is a form of resin, and most resins are bitter, that may be flavoring the pollen.

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Hi Villi, guess I am lucky. I have a couple local bee supply businesses within 20 mile driving distance. Also I have a small wood shop where I build a few items like hive bodies, tops, n bottoms. Other needs like frames, foundations, n tools I buy from our local bee keeper supply place. Good luck on your method of buying. That’s what my wife does… Not my bag ! Thanks for your notes … Gerald.

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Thank you Valli! :slight_smile:

hello i from asuncion paraguay south america and i really wanna buy a beekeeping the big zice estandar and i wanna now about the shiping rate to my country

Hi Mariano, could you please contact the Flow Hive team via the link below, they will be able to let you know if they can ship to your country.

https://www.honeyflow.com/contact/p/3

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Would a bee sting kit be part of your tool kit

Hi Billy, not me personally as I am not affected by their stings. But if you are concerned then some antihistamines and ibuprofen may help with the swelling but you’ll need to take them immediately. If there is a risk of an allergic reaction then an epipen just in case.

Was mainly concerned about visiting guest and thank you