Hi from Australia

John from Tamworth.
Have 3 hives at the moment, not mobile but the girls seem happy. With olive trees, plenty of natives and other flowering plants (and that’s just on our 2.5Ha!) they have plenty of choice. The Robyn Gordon and Moonlight are always a-buzz whenever I walk past!
Looking forward to the flow, so we can see how the process would suit an elderly couple on a small block - for when I finally get to retire!

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Hi I’m Mark From Grass Valley in WA.

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Hi, Andrew from Victoria Australia…

have been thinking about getting into bee keeping for years but always looked too hard… until I saw the flowhive… so I jumped on board… (hurry up and send me my hive!! )

since then I’ve read and read and read heaps on keeping bees and even went and did a course on bee keeping at Ceres…

this gave me the confidence to go out and get a normal hive myself :slight_smile:

I want to hit the ground running this spring and not have to wait another year to have a full working hive…

I got my first sting today after brushing a bee into my collar… :frowning:

I checked my hive for the first time in the two weeks that I’ve had it yesterday and they are still a bit toey today so a couple of them were giving me a sendoff…

mostly I can sit right next to the hive and watch them come and go…

anyways… glad to be aboard this forum :slight_smile:

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Ceres has impacted so many people. I volenteered there in 1992/3 they are directly responsible for me becoming environmentally aware, a landowner and self reliant. I still can’t look at pigs without remembering the incredible sex scenes… Wow rough!!! Lol. I wish I had done the bee course, it’s cool you are able to just sit next to your bees. Giselle

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Hi All also from Melbourne. complete noob so will get some inspiration and knowledge no doubt from the forums. Will hopefully get a brood box going in preparation for the flowhives when they arrive. Getting some woodwork going this winter in building everything but the super. Cheers

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Well I had a bees nest. I hadn’t checked it for a while. It was on a steeply sloping bank above the Brunswick River and not easy to get at. I made the effort today, climbing right down to where the entrance was.

Not a bee in sight. Looks like I need a plan B or should that be a plan bee?

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Hi ymcg. I just put in a request to join your group. Thanks for the invite.

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Hi from Bedfordale, WA. I have had a single hive for about 10 years, looking forward to converting a super to flow hive frames later this year.

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Hi from Bunyip Victoria!

I run a sideline beekeeping business carrying out nest removals, hive rentals, and a hive brood health check service between Melbourne and Tralalgon.

I love beekeeping, how you need to slow yourself down when working with the bees, I find it to be a form of meditation and surprisingly some great exercise as well (especially if you’re spending half a day removing a bee nest!) :wink:

Recently I have become the Victorian Agent for Kangaroo Island Ligurian Bees, so if anyone nearby is looking for very nice calm and disease free bees - please let me know :smile:

Please feel free to check out the hive removal jobs I have done since the start of the year on my facebook page: www.facebook.com/thebunyipbeekeeper - while you’re there please also give me a like :blush:

Cheers,

William Rogers
The Bunyip Beekeeper

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Hi everyone I’m from sunny Mackay QLD. I had my first bee hives (4) when I was 19 and now many years later I have bought a Flow Hive, so while I am waiting for it to arrive I have built myself a top bar hive and now all I need is the bees to populate it. :wink:

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Hi Sciencemaster and Rodderick, we have been experimenting with putting the Flow super below the brood. The hive entrance is then either half way up the hive above the queen excluder or at the very top of the hive - part of the lid. This way it is relatively easy to lift the lid and remove brood frames one at a time for inspection. Flow frames do not necessarily need regular inspection like brood, although you will have to keep a look out for small hive beetles. We are not sure whether or not this affects honey harvest as bees may tend to like putting their honey beside or above their brood. We’d be interested in your experience of this.

Because the view into the hive at the back of the Flow super is worth having at eye level you may want to have a tall stand - however this would make it hard for you to inspect brood if you cannot stand up. I’m starting to imagine a hive on a telescopic stand so that you can lower it at brood inspection times…

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Hi from Severnlea, Nr. Stanthorpe, QLD,

I’m a Pommy and lived here for 3 years. I live on 14 acres and always dreamed of keeping bees in the years before migrating here.
So, I have been and done it after seeing the Flow. I will be 69 by the time I am set up, but I have a concern. With all the Flows coming online at the same time, will there be enough bees? Can anyone put me in touch with a bee supplier for this area, as I don’t want to be sat here looking at a barren hive?
Good bee keeping to fellow Flow’ers.

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Hi All,
I got my first bee hive 1 week before the flow hive was released… Oh well I will just pop it on top. I was going to wait until spring to get my bees anyway. I am from Albury on the Murray and would love to hear from anyone locally that is also getting a flow hive so we can compare notes ect.

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I’m from Eltham, Victoria and would be interested in having such a hive when production costs have come down.
It would be good if as many bee-keepers, as possible could be alerted to the Flow_hive, as the labour & time-saving would have enormous spinoffs.
Because we are located in Australia, it would be good if a secondary industry arose with time, in that a hive for native bees could be developed. This would probably require frames with a smaller cell size for the honey. Because native bees are a smaller colony and much slower at producing honey a split-frame system may be required so that if harvesting honey takes place that the hive is still left with sufficient reserves. There could be an enormous industry for native bee hives as there would be no need for associated equipment such as bee suits ,and, being stingless the hives could be kept in suburbia with no risk of people getting stung.

Hi. I live in Wootton and have never kept bees but am looking forward to getting my Flowhive at the end of the year. You mentioned a bee keepers group in Newcastle? Could you please send me a link to that? Thanks.

Hi Mizy - here you go:
Hunter Valley Amateur Beekeepers Assoc

I just found this interesting site:

AussieApiaristsOnline.net

Hi Stu, I like your thinking. I believe this is similar to the way a Warre hive works, I have seen Warre beekeepers lift the brood box to insert a honey super underneath. I haven’t tried it myself but its an interesting concept and reckon that the bees would be happy to work downwards just as much as working upwards. Another idea would be to develop a hive where the frames can be moved out the front or back of the hive. If you have seen the way computers are built, the expansion boards are inserted this way and screws or levers are used to break the seal (plugs), in a hive this would be the propolis. Its just an idea and would need some thinking but you would no longer need to lift the supers to get access to the brood.

Aussie Apiarists Online is an excellent site. If you get in contact with your local Beekeepers Supply store they usually have contacts in the industry and take orders for bee packages, best to get your order in early if you can. Otherwise put your name down for a swarm at your local bee club.

I love that Honey. Can you ship your bees to Darwin, or do you know of anyone there for me to deal with? Need a nuc about the same time I get the FlowHive.

Cheers,
Rick