Can you purchase bees for a new Flow Hive in Dec/Jan on the Gold Coast

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hi

I am considering buying a Flow Hive for a Christmas present. It is probably a silly question, but is it possible to set up a new Flow Hive at that time of year on the Gold Coast, Qld. I was unsure as to whether it was possible to purchase a nuc at that time of year.

Thanks

Andrew

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I don’t know about nucs being available on the Gold Coast but I will have hive strength colonies an hour drive north on the Sunshine Coast and another bee keeper up here has nucs most of the year.
No question is silly if you don’t know the answer.
A nice Xmas present that will give so much back.
Welcome to the forum, there is a lot of advise and help available on the forum.
Regards

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Hi Peter

Thank you for the quick and helpful reply. I am trying to read as much as I can online so that I can learn about this very interesting topic and I am excited at the thought of getting a hive. I had read that the bees slow down over the cooler months and I was unsure whether there was a time of year when you could not buy nucs (ie. whether it was a seasonal thing).

Andrew

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I understand you logical question but our “Winter” climate is “bee heaven” in places like Canada where it would be regarded as Summer time. My bees here on the Sunshine Coast hardly slow down in our Winter, they forage all of the year and collect an excess of honey. They don’t forage in Winter for the same number of hours because of the available daylight so there is a reduction of honey for a couple of months, our climate is great for bee’s and honey production.
There are other bee keepers on the Gold Coast that might be able to help you that are closer.
Regards

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5

I am 2 1/2 hours drive from Cararra so if you don’t get others on the coast being able to help you out it will mean a trip up to drop off the hive and have a look at my Italian strain which are very placid and good honey producers. After a week or two I could drop the hives back to you when I visit my brother down there, food for thought.
Regards

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That would work perfectly. I just need to drop some hints to my wife about what I want for Christmas :joy: Thank you Peter

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My wife agreed to me getting back into bees but I had to agree to a limit of 4 hives, that went out the window in a few weeks when she counted 10 and I kept my mouth shut about hives out away from my apiary. Bee keeping is very addictive. Maybe come up and have a look at my apiary and she can see they are calm and not aggressive as so many people think, that might be the thing to swing her on side.
Regards

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You would need to order from Flow Hive soon for a December delivery, maybe flowers and a nice meal out is in order, or just tell her what you want to do and why !!!

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My wife would want to know what I had been up to if I turned up with flowers and said we were going out for dinner ha ha. It’s not that she is a suspicious person, but I may be a bit slack when it comes to spoiling her.

I hadn’t thought about the delivery time if I wanted a hive by Christmas. That’s a good point. I am sure my wife would be supportive of a hive. I’ll have to show her them online and touch bases with Flow to see what the delivery times are like at the moment.

Thanks again Peter for your advice and generous offer of letting me come visit.

Andrew

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Not a problem, happy to help out where I can. Us bee keepers are a help full bunch. My emails is peterchristie@internode.on.net if you want to ask more, just email me. The Flow factory is in Brissy and they are quick to reply to emails.
More than happy to show you how I run my apiary and spend time with you so you will know more.
I’m off now.
Cheers

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11

Hi Andrew,

Here are our Christmas shipping times. (The sooner the better to order to guarantee delivery). We also have a sale on now.


https://www.honeyflow.com/holiday-season-shipping-info/p/516

I would get in touch with your local beekeeping club - they will be able to tell you if conditions are right in your area at that time of year for starting a hive, and also if they have any nucs etc available for purchase. The coast can have really different weather to even half an hour inland, so I would ask some local beekeepers as close as possible to you.

The other thing to consider is that you can get your hive, build it, paint it and have it all ready for Spring :slight_smile:

Another thing to mention is that some bee suppliers have waiting lists, so get in touch with someone as soon as you can to get your order in.