British Columbia Bee Keepers

Hello all!

I thought it would be nice to have a forum just for us BC folks.

I’m on Malcolm Island (an island off of Vancouver Island).

We’re new to bee keeping and we are starting off this year with 2 top bar hives. We’ll use our flow hive next year once we have happy and healthy hives.

I’ve got a great mentor and here are some info he has given me:

  1. You’ll need to register with the Ministry of Agriculture. http://www.al.gov.bc.ca/apiculture/apiary_reg_form.htm It’s easy, worthwhile and mandatory.

  2. Plant tons and tons of flowers. Otherwise the honey bees will be competing with the wild mason and bumble bees (and others). Bees do travel quite a ways but we need to provide lots of food too.

  3. Some books that were recommended:
    Beginning: Beekeeper’s Handbook Fourth Edition - Dianna Samataro and Alphonse Avitabile (ignore third bullet page 64)
    Beginner Top Bar: Thinking beekeeper - Christy Hemenway
    Advanced: Top bar Hive Beekeeping Wisdom and Pleasure Combined - Wyatt A. Magnum

I would love to hear tips and information you have! This is going to be fun.

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I’m in Nanaimo, new to bee’s and will be starting next spring once my flowhive gets here

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I’m in New Westminster. I’m a newbee :slight_smile: I don’t have bees this year (other than Mason bees) but I am taking a beekeeping course to get started then later in the summer I’m helping take care of a community hive in Vancouver. Super excited to start learning and it’d be nice to connect with some locals!!

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Hi I am in the Okanagan and have taken the Beginning beekeeping Course as well as read a ton. Wish I had started this year but will have to wait till next. There are a ton of Free books on the Internet as well.

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Hi! I live in Victoria. I don’t have any beekeeping experience. I would love to hear about peoples experiences with the flow hive once they are up and running on Vancouver Island. I am really hoping one day to get a flow hive of my own :smile: some day!!!

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G’day @deanna I was really confused by that - didn’t realise there was a Victoria in Canada - my bad - when most Aussies say they come from Victoria we mean the state.

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@deanna I’m in Nanaimo and have one on order to be here in Decembers sometimes. If all goes well there might be something to see next summer :smile:

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Hello all BC Bee keepers. I’m a first year wanna-bee Bee Keeper between Merritt and Princeton.
I’m hoping that someone can tell me if I should be buying a nuc for the flow hive or not. The videos all show the replacement of frames from the nuc to the traditional hive, but with the preformed synthetic frames of the flow hive, I’m not certain what to buy.
Help!?:anguished:

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You need to buy bees and a nuc is as good a way to start as any.
You will need to let them grow and build up till they are filling a langstroth brood box and have 5/6 solid frames of brood before you think of putting on any supers.
Check the rest of the forum, there are threads on when to super.
Before you do any of this it might be best to learn how to look after bees by joining a local bee group, getting some lessons and practice with a mentor. Good luck, it’s a truly absorbing hobby

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It’s not just buying bees off a shelf. You have to do a little research which is why we say join a local club. Bees are sold as a ball of bees, a nuc or you can try to catch a swarm - get some help with that.

All bees hives need to grow in size each spring. You really need to get a mentor and do lots of reading before you get your bees

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HI BC beeks. I’m in the southern interior, between the Shuswap and Kamloops. We’re Thinking about ordering a flow hive and wondering how the shipping worked out for you … Looking forward to The adventure!

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We bought one on the crowdfunding for the cheapest price, turns out it might not be best for our damper climate (we’re coastal rainforest) but it is much better for drier locations. We might consider selling ours (new, still in box, not assembled). The shipping was about $80 on top of the initial cost. If you are interested I could let you know what we paid for ours.

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Yes, we’re interested, thank you!

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the cost with exchange was $772.85 CAD (much better exchange rate back then compared to now!) plus the shipping was $114.67. Total is $887.52. Not sure what they are selling them for now.

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Hello. I am in Victoria and have joined the Capital Beekeepers Assoc. Looking forward with great excitement to beekeeping!

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Our shipping cost was about $88. The whole system is not cheap, but the product is high quality, and of course the honey extraction process in FlowHive eliminates the need for extractors, or transporting the frames to an extractor owned by someone else.

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@pamela did you sell it?

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Hi Sabine,
No we haven’t sold it yet.
Cheers,
Pam

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Hi I am new on here. I received my Flow Hive a couple of weeks ago and will assemble it this weekend. I live in Courtenay. I am totally new to Beekeeping. Where is a good place to order a nuke from? Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Hey Kim
I’m in Nanaimo but if you are on Facebook look for VI Beekeepers group

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