Any updates from Central Fl Flow Beeks? How are your hives doing?
FYI, there is a new association, Seminole County Beekeepers which will begin meeting at the Seminole County IFAS on County Home Road. The next meeting is June 7th at 7. Here’s a link to the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/seminolebeekeepers/
Hi. Just ordered my Flow and live in Lake Mary. Did you find a nuc? Looking for one myself and realize it’s late in the season.
Hi neighbor! D&J Apiaries had nucs not long ago. I contacted Dennis at
Orlando Bee Removal because he sometimes has extra bees and sometimes
swarms which you can requeen. Join us at Seminole County Bee keepers Assn.
meetings. Find the group on Facebook. How many hives do you have? Us only
one. I hope we can collaborate.
Best,
Beth
Thanks for the welcome looking forward to my first meeting next week. I called D.N.J. but they said they didn’t have any nucs so I’m still looking
Hi there! I’ve been a Beek in Central FL for just over a month. I have two hives that are doing quite well with 5-6 of 8 frames each fully filled out.
Is there a Fall Flow for Central FL that I should be preparing for in your opinion? My 2 sets of bees came from 5 nucs (each) from the Lake Land area from a commercial bee keeper so the colony appears to be very well established.
I plan to use one brood box (each) with a Flow Super (each) for harvesting.
Dennis has been phenomenal. He helped me set up my hive and I talk to him nearly every 2-3 days so I am looking for your opinion as a Flow owner in addition to his guidance.
Thanks for your consideration!
Hi Carl!
Have you joined Dennis’ Seminole County BK Assn? Meeting are at the IFAS
office in Sanford.
I believe there is a fall nectar flow here, but we don’t have our bees
yet. Hope to get them when
it cools off just a little bit.
I wonder if there are any experienced beekeepers with Flow Hives near
here. It would be great to
have a FL Flow Hive Facebook group to support each other.
Beth
Hi Michelle!
I’m not fond of this forum - I don’t seem to see when there are new posts. I’ve just started a Facebook group for us. Florida Flow Hive Community. Perhaps join there - if you see this.
I just created a Facebook group for us here in Florida, USA. Join if you like:
Florida Flow Hive Community.
Best,
Beth
Hi,
I would like to see how your bee keeping has come since 2015. I’m looking at flow hives and would like some input. I also live in Florida near St. Johns river.
Thank you for any input.
Hi Smokn_G,
We’ve had some challenges, but I don’t attribute them to the Flow Hive. We had our hive abscond in December 2016. It was a really dry December, and even though we provided water, the plants were all dry, and I think they left to find a home closer to food.
We replaced those bees in Spring of 2017 and bought a second nuc to try our hands at Top Bar beekeeping too. Then we had several hurricanes hit in succession. We tied the hives down and they didn’t get damaged, however, we had a ton of heavy tree limbs fall near the hives, and with the limbs came horrible Soldier or Carpenter ants. We battled the ants, but lost the Top Bar hive. It was horrible. We tried to move the bees into a nuc to save them from the ants, but they lost their queen to the ants. The Flow Hive was also attacked by the ants, but they had propolised the hive so well, that the ants didn’t get the foothold they did in the Top Bar. Today, those bees are still going strong. We haven’t harvested any honey, however, because the year has been pretty hard on them and they needed their honey. We’re hoping to be able to pull some in late Spring, but we’ll have to see how much they can put up.
My husband and I both love our Flow Hive. We spend time sitting with it to get the bees used to our presence. We love having the windows to do a quick check on them. But we’ve only had one harvest from the hive since setting it up in 2016. This isn’t a Flow Hive issue, it’s a dry, hot weather issue. The one harvest worked pretty well. It did leak a little into the hive, but the bees cleaned that up quickly. The honey harvested was clean and delicious. It didn’t take long either. We set jars under the spouts and covered them with saran wrap, and harvested about 10 pounds in 20 minutes.
The Flow Hive is working very well for us, but the environment has been a challenge. We’re hoping to get back to harvesting in 2018.
Gemeinschaft79
What have been ups and downs for the flow hive? I am thinking about getting into and looking more into this and with florida weather is this a great option, since you wouldnt need the capping equip or all those extras to extract honey
Thanks
hi! hopefully you come across this forum (4years later 
) found your post since you reside in the same city I am 
I am on the verge of purchasing the bee hive and also, I am a newbee to this. I have never done but have been doing alot of research and am signing up for classes. would you be able to give a few pointers considering you reside in Jax. ?
Hi I’m new to Homosassa and looking to join a bee club do you know of any in citrus County??
There is one close to Ocala, or there used to be one, but the one is Orlando is better. Unfortunately now as closed as you will like.
Here is the link http://orangeblossombeekeepers.org/