9 Months from start - a learning time

Introductions
1

Hi from Mandurah in Western Australia.
Life as a beekeeper began at the end of 2023 with a FlowHive 2+ setup and a full hive contents from another beekeeper.
Joined the local Apiarist’s Society, registered the hive with the State Agriculture Dept, and attended the local beekeeping group meetings. OK, so far, so good.

Drawing from experience shared by my mother who had some 90 hives for many years I rapidly realised how little I really knew.

First harvest of liquid amber was astounding, the second was equally thrilling but that was at the end of the middle of Autunm here in Western Australia.

A thorough inspection of the hive just after the second harvest showed no problems that were obvious, but shortly after, the hive was attacked by Robber Bees. Advice from the local beekeepers including the FlowHive Ambassador here resulted in restricting the entry into the hive with the metal plate supplied from Flowhive, and the covering of the direct flight path with a window screen mesh in frame.

Now some 2 months later and Spring just around the corner I checked the bottom tray and found a quantity of brown material in the tray. I pondered if it was associated with Wax Moth so cleaned the tray and coated the surface with Canola Oil…Checked next day and found several moths of 2 different sizes in the oil.
This clearly required another full hive inspection, so 4 days later The hive was given a complete going through again. All looked well, Queen seen, but one frame that had brood in on the first inspection was now empty and a dark color - not quite sure what is happening there.
Metal restrictor plate is now removed and the bees seem less stressed.

Anyway that’s where we are at this time.

2

Hi Ken, welcome to the forum. I agree that beekeeping IS “a learning time”, one that never seems to end.

I have one observation while reading your story. The metal plate supplied by Flow has a small opening that might be just a little bit too small for a strong colony. You’d be better off by not using it in preference to blocking the entrance with a bit of wood or something else to the desired width.

3

Hi JeffH, thank you for your input.
When I opened the brood box the second time it was not more that 50% full of bees. Quite a contrast to the situation at the first opening. The flow frames are not showing much in the way of
capped storage
I can only surmise that the attack of the Robber Bees left the hive in a depleted condition. The sight of brood cells is encouraging.
The bees seem happy with the entrance stricture gone.

4

I was just at a beekeepers meeting from our local club and one experienced keep said: “Every year in spring when I open my hives for the first time, I think: What’s this? You haven’t seen this before.”

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