Hi all I set up my hive and got my bees last year. And got my bes a bit later in the year than Advised but I fed them lots of syrup and bee fondant.
They are now getting strong. This year will be my first honey harvest.
Here’s a vid of my hive getting strong, you can also see into my hive with the see through crown board I have installed.
Having problems with uploading video, will sort soon hopefully.
Thnxs for your interest, there strongest I have seen them so I know there growing.
I have a brood box and half, queen excluder then two shallows. The picture was take when I only just added a new shallow on top for the to fill with honey.
I don’t have years of knowledge to look back on and know fully at what strength this hive should be at. But I did ask a local beekeeper and he seems to think it sounds a strong hive for this time of year.
Depends where you are and how long you have had your bees Josh, package, nuc or swarm? and what nectar rich plants are flowering in your area. Feeding is generally to stimulate the colony for growth, gets the bees producing and drawing out wax this can take a couple of months in a new hive before the queen can get up to speed with her laying. As Dexter has suggested, if the bees are bringing in pollen, and nectar (they will look heavy & clumsy approaching the landing board) then you can stop feeding, otherwise expect only a small harvest in the first year as they will need honey reserves to get through the next winter.
Nice setup, looking forward to seeing the Vid.
Hey rodderick, I know there is few fields close by with oil seed rape and I have heard they prefer that to alot of other plants. There seems to be 10 out of a hundred that come back with pollen. The rest I suppose are carrying necter. I got the nucleus about July I think it was, A bit later in the year than recommended.
Oh by the way I’m not feeding them no more I got advised to keep feeding them till they stop drinking it, which they did a while back now. I suppose they prefer the real thing.
Having problems getting vid up, I’ll get a new video which is more up to date and will probably have to put on youtube then giv link. As it will not allow file format on here.
About the Oil Seed Rape, you may want to check the viscosity of the honey before installing the Flow frames, I have heard it can candy soon after bottling which may affect how it drains from the Flow frames. Otherwise use the Flow outside of the Rape flowering season.
Here is an information booklet put out by the NSW Dept of Primary Industries specifically tailored for beekeepers on Oil Seed Rape (canola), it may be useful to you.
Thank you, I will have a look into that. I’ll try and get a video or at least some more pics up this weekend.
I am also going to go to my first beekeepers meeting. Learnt everything I know practical wise from someone I know but his knowledge is limited. Combined with my online research. Will do me good I believe joining local beekeepers association.
Here you go finally got the video up.
You’re off to a good start @Josh, they are looking healthy. Do you have a cover for the top? I like the idea of having viewing windows for those quick re-assuring bee checks.
Yeah I have a lid, I don’t leave it off too long though I think the light coming through crown board does effect there behaviour after a while.
It’s cool watch them at work though, they are so quick at drawing comb. Also you see some strange things, somehow half a drone was stuck to a bees leg and it was going crazy trying to loosen it off. Don’t have a clue what was going on there lol.
How busy the entrance need to be and how many frames of brood need to be in hive till you think about doing small split. I’m wanting two hives this year.
Hi Josh, I wouldn’t split the hive unless it is bursting with bees with a high possibility of swarming, an inspection of the brood frames would confirm if swarm or supersedure cells are either in the process of being built or capped and not to be confused with emergency/spare queen cells. If your bees are very new (less than 1 year old), then you should wait at least two years before splitting. Hope this helps.
There are some other factors to consider when splitting, i.e. are you planning to have your bees raise a new queen or procure a queen from another beekeeper? If you intend to raise your own, then you’ll need drones and lots of them. Its best if you have few hives around to ensure the queen mates with as many drones as she can, I don’t think a single hive will be enough.
I was thinking of raising my own queen but if you think 1 hive isn’t enough then I am reconsidering.
The only problem I have is that I am happy with my bees, they are friendly so what ever bloodline they got I want to keep.
I suppose I could order a queen for my new hive, keep my old queen till next year. Then sadly kill that queen and let them raise there own queen in the old hive so this hopefully keeps some of the bloodline in the bees. As the drones from old hive will mate with the new raised queen?
Is there a better method of keeping my queens genes?
Sorry didn’t notice your first reply, I got them last year in July. You think doing a split this year is too much for em ?
If the hive is not bursting with bees then hold off at least another year.
hi there everyone - its great to be here!
I dont know where to ask this, but believe that this thread is pretty close to my question.
I’m a newbie (one only flow hive), but i intend on getting a second in the next few weeks…
my question is this: My current hive is super healthy and very full. There are no signs of queen cells but there were a small number of drone cells (which i removed). When i get the second hive, can i successfully split my current hive and will the split produce its own queen? Bee kind!
M.
Hi there and welcome to the Flow forum!
If the brood box is full and the hive looks ready for a super, you could split it instead of supering, yes. In fact for you, this is a good time of year to do it. Yes they will make their own queen. Don’t add a super until they look really full again after the split though. The queenless part of the split may take a month or two to get up to full strength.
I don’t normally destroy drone cells. Drones somehow make the hive happy (pheromones perhaps), and even if you destroy them, the bees will make more.
If you want to ask a question and you can’t see the right thread, you are welcome to start a new one. That way you can give it your own title, and it will help others with the same question as you. 