G’idday all!
Martin’s the name and we, (the wife and I) live in the wonderful South Coast of NSW, Australia. Conjola.
We moved here less than a year ago from Sydney, and are getting set up to be self sufficient on our 25 acres. Some cleared with my veggies and fruit trees but with plenty of bush, with Iron Barks,wattles, and a plethora of other tress, gullies, dams and wildlife. Paradise really…!
I saw the flow hive crowd funding and got excited, became a founder member, and have since ordered a second (pine) hive to go with my cedar one.
Totally new to bee keeping, but it’ll be an intricate part of the process to become self sufficient.
As usual, the universe has provided, and my neighbour ( who is a commercial beekeeper) came and saw me to ask if he could put some of his hives on an unused paddock of mine. trading space for knowledge, bees and some honey till mine are set up. He thinks the FH’s are an awesome thing!!
I’ve been with him in my founder member suit going through the hives, learning, getting stung, (love it) and seeing all a noob should see.
My knowledge base has been booming since I got on to this forum, (thanks guys!) and I am sure I will be a contributor soon…
I’m waiting for my second part of the Cedar hive to be delivered (Monday I think, according to the email, yippee), once its built, oiled, and stand made, it will be all go!!
Is there anybody here from the area SE NSW I can connect with to share experience and talk?
All the best to my fellow Flow Hivers,
Sounds like you have a great setup, and you are not even whingeing (Pom).
Please let us know how it all goes. I am looking forward to your comparison over time of the pine hive with the cedar Flow hive, both in terms of durability and ergonomics with lifting, harvesting etc.
Hello! Hubby and I are hoping to become beekeepers! Absolute beginners, so any advice is warmly welcomed! We live in rural Vic (Teesdale), so will be looking for help setting up our Flow hive and sourcing some bees! Cheers!!
It is great that you and your hubby are doing this together. My hubby and I have around 30 years of beekeeping experience between us, and for me, I always enjoy it more when we are at the hives together. One person to smoke the bees when needed, the ability to lift heavy boxes of honey together, helping each other find the queen and see what she is doing. The pleasure is more than doubled!
I couldn’t agree more.
I’m looking forward to my Flow hive. Looking forward to playing with it but the ritual of taking off those warm honey frames on a hot August day, taking them carefully home, uncapping them in the conservatory with the wonderful scent of the wax,propolis and honey mingling with sticky fingers and arms … the sharing of the bees’ lives, will never be surpassed I reckon. Sorry…going on a bit. It’s winter and I’m missing the bees and the sunshine.
Hi, I’m a newbie. My hive arrived just before Christmas and I’m waiting on the Flow frames. No bees yet, but I’m signed up for a beekeeping class w/ my local club, starting in February. Then I plan to arrange my bee purchase through the club. Living in an urban area, the only place for a hive that we have is on our rooftop. It’s a good placement for us, b/c we have a rooftop deck, so I spent last summer setting up a potted garden up there that could survive the summer heat. The neighbors shouldn’t be bothered by the hive up there - plus, until last summer there was a wild hive inside the walls of a house a few doors down that no one ever noticed - so I don’t expect any proximity problems.
I can’t see where in the world you are from your profile, so my comments will reflect that. We have beekeepers in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Indonesia, Asia, and just about everywhere else! (None on the moon yet…)
From your comments, I assume you are in the northern hemisphere. If that is true, and you want to use your hive this season (March to July), you will need to order bees ASAP, unless you have a tame local beekeeper to provide you with bees for your hive. Most suppliers of nucleus hives sell out in early winter, and package bees will sell out very soon. They won’t be delivered until March to May this year, but if you have the boxes, you can start with those and you won’t need the Flow frames for a while.
Let us know if you have any further questions, and we do our best to help you out!
I had just updated my profile to say I’m from Washington, DC, in the USA…not sure why it isn’t showing up yet, but maybe it just needs time to replicate on the server. My beekeepers club just sent out an email about assisting the new beeks in buying bees, but thanks for the nudge in that direction.
My name is Jennifer. My wife and I have been wanting start beekeeping for awhile because we love honey. We just moved to Crestwood, KY US, so we now have some space on our 2 acres to have a bee hive. Someone posted the Flow Hive on FB so I started doing some research. I’m going to order the Flow Hive and hope it arrives before spring. We no nothing about beekeeping so we have a lot to learn.
Welcome aboard Jennifer. Flow is still fulfilling it’s founding orders so I believe any new ordered are slated to go out the door Feb or Mar of this year. I would imagine that by the time you have a strong enough hive to need a honey super they should be good to go.
Thanks… I’m watching a video right now on how to transfer the bees to the new hive. LOL. so much to learn. I don’t have any bees yet, should I order them now as well or wait until I have the Flow?
So glad that you and your wife are going into beekeeping together. It is so much more fun to do with a partner, especially when the boxes get heavy and jarring all the honey is a lot of work, but also sharing the joy of understanding nature better is invaluable.
I believe from the insider e-mails that February and March deliveries are all sold out now. April is the next available month.
What a great question! OK, my answer is going to be longer than needed, but you may want to read it a few times The short answer is, consider ordering right now for spring delivery. Here is what I suggest:
Join a local beekeeper society/club - there are 1000s all over the US, so I am sure that there will be one not too far from you. Partly you will get great local advice (the US has a huge variety of climates, all of which affect best practices in beekeeping). But also, you may meet people who run great apiaries with locally adapted bees for sale. Best option is to buy from a member - they don’t want you to have a bad experience, because they are going to see you at regular meetings!
I would ask members of the above club whether they have recommendations of a supplier. For a beginner, I suggest you order a nucleus. They are more expensive, but much easier to install and nurture through the first few months. However, most nuclei sell out in late Fall or early Winter of the previous season, so you may not find any available. In that case, you will need to buy a “package”, but again get local recommendations. The further the bees have to travel, the less well they recover.
In your part of the US, I would expect that most beekeepers will run their hives on “double deeps”, which means 2 brood boxes. The Flow hive comes with one brood box, so you will want to order a second box. They are not expensive, and you can get one to match the Flow hive from here, just make sure you choose the 8-Frame option to match your Flow hive if you ordered the full hive: http://www.beethinking.com/collections/parts-accessories/products/langstroth-deep-cedar-hive-box?variant=454238661
I would actually go a step further, and order the screened bottom board, frames, inner cover and roof (telescoping cover) from the same place. It might set you back another $122 or so, but you will have spares, and you can get your bees set up right away if the Flow hive has any delays.
Meanwhile, read this whole forum, get some books and talk to other beekeepers. If you can do some classes or join others when they start inspecting their hives in the early spring, so much the better!
Finally, welcome and good luck in your adventure with bees!
HI all…I’m a newbee from BC, Canada. My husband has some experience with beekeeping but not one iota for me! We’re planning on buying a complete flow hive this spring - if our dollar doesn’t tank altogether. (We may have to buy the frames only, and get home-made or second hand supers). I’m soo excited, and already in love with the bees. They’ll be a wonderful addition to our little homestead and join our hens and goats, dogs and cats, and acres of wildflowers! See you around!
Hi Jennifer!
My wife and I are also starting this Spring and are extremely excited to begin our first colony. I would recommend reading Beekeeping for Dummies and The Complete Idiots Guide to Beekeeping. They have great information inside of them. I’ve read like 6 books this winter to get ready. I’d also suggest joining your local bee club. It’s great to know people with apiaries in your area, especially if they sell bees. The bees will be used to your climate.
This forum has a great group of folks with loads of information. Ask lots of questions
Hi, I am waiting for my flow hive to arrive and in the meantime trying to learn as much as I can.This Forum sounds like a good start.I am retired and from Toodyay in West Australia.
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Greeting from Winmalee. I too am new to bee keeping and have just ordered my Flow Hive. Got myself a native bee hive which is exciting but needed a bigger thrill so getting in to the honey bees. Have you received yours yet and how is it going. What territory do your bees cover ?
Regards,
Max
I live in Jönköping, Sweden and I am looking forward to the delivery of my Flow Hive and starting my new retirement hobby (albeit 20 years early!). I wasn’t in a position to be an early adopter but followed the campaign from the beginning with interest and finally invested in a complete Flow Hive in August 20015. Delivery sometime very soon - February.
I have already booked myself on a local bee keeping course and I’m looking forward to learning the art of beekeeping and ‘Going with the Flow’. I know I have lots to learn, including all the technical terms (in another language) which might be a challenge. I’m not sure whether I’ll have suficient knowledge to be ready and up and running this spring or not, but I really hope so.
The short answer is, consider ordering right now for spring delivery. Here is what I suggest:
