I’ve never kept bees myself, just helped my uncle a few times a couple decades ago. I have a full Flow Hive that I will be bringing to next month’s beekeepers meeting at Zilker Botanical Gardens. I am still in the learning phase, but am happy to let others check out what was delivered to us.
If you’re in Texas, you should be aggressively feeding the bees with 1 to 1 sugar water to get them building their population. I would definitely recommend using this feeding to get them used to the your new Flow super.
Our honey flow here in central Texas is the wildflower, Indian Blanket. It will be blooming in about 6 weeks. To get my hive ready for the flow, I put down a queen excluder and the new Flow super on top of that. I put a half gallon feeder on the top.
The bees have to travel through the Flow super to get their feed. It took about a week to get them comfortable with the new super, but now they have moved in. I’m going to keep them moving through the Flow super 'till the flow starts in about 6 weeks. When our flow starts, they should have no problem knowing were to store all that delicious wild flower honey!
I just read the post by the Flow hiver in Lorena. I went to a couple of the HOT beekeepers meeting several years ago and have been on their email list for years. I have had conversations with their president, Gary, and, last spring, offered to bring a video and make a Flow hive presentation at the meeting. Gary told me that there will be no time in the meetings for such a 10 minute presentation for several months. I took the hint and faded from the club.
Perhaps we need to start a Central Texas Flow Hivers club here in Waco. I have quite a few years of beekeeping experience. It would probably be fun to share our experiences and how to make the Flow Hive really work well in Central Texas. How many Flow hivers live near Waco?
I used an Oxalic vaporizer this winter to kill the mites and it worked GREAT! In fact, it looked like the bees were much more active and happy after the treatment. Forget these old schoolers. They resist any of the really good ideas and techniques if they are “new.”
Bees are doing well. I added spacer to my flow hive so only have 7 frames in my 8 frame house. Now 6 of the 7 frames are full of brood/honey. Is it time to add flow hive?
I presume you are talking about the brood box? I would take out the spacer and put in the 8th frame. Also, do most beekeepers in your area use double brood boxes? If so, I would add a second brood box and let that fill before adding the Flow super. If they only use one brood box, you should be in good shape to add the Flow super.
Thanks Dawn, Cannot add 8th frame as I have screwed in spacers that allow me to put 7 frames in an 8 frame brood box. Will check with folks here and see if I need to add another brood box.
I am in Katy and just got my nuc a week ago. They look like they are doing great!
Are you going to this? Are there any other Texas flow hive beekeepers going to this? If so would like to try to figure out a way for all of us to meet up.
http://texasbeekeepers.org/summer-clinic-2016/
http://texasbeekeepers.org/summer-clinic-2016/
My husband and I are newbees living in Blanco, TX. We are seriously considering the flow hives. Please let me know about your experience with them. I see that several of you were posting in February and March, so I assume you have harvested some honey at this point. Thanks in advance for all input!
Tonya,
I have decided to have 2 brood boxes per hive. 2 brood boxes is not necessary in central texas and it is not the most efficient way to produce honey. But, it has its benefits. With 2 brood boxes…
- I am told that I will not need to worry about feeding my bees over winter (this is my first hive, so, I hope that turns out to be true) because the bees will have enough stored honey to get through the winter.
- A 2nd brood box allows me to split the hive into 2 hives more easily.
I bring this up, because I would have been able to harvest honey this year if I had only gone with 1 brood box. Because the 2nd brood box already has 3 frames completely full of honey. I bought my bees from beeweaver and things have been going pretty good. I did have a flareup of small hive beetles (SHB), but, I started using my SHB oil trap again and that seems to have worked.
I received my bees back in March and so far, beekeeping has been more enjoyable and easier than I expected. As for the flow frames, I have not used them yet, but, they seem to be well thought out, well made (there are some quirks about them), and I am convinced based on all of the testimonials in the forums from people who have a track record of being honest, that the frames will work well when the time comes for me to harvest it.
Brand spanking new person to bees! We moved onto 20 acres and are looking into the option of bees for ag exempt…in the first phase of research, we live in Grayson county, so closer to Dallas. Our neighbor s also raising bees but not with the flow hive. We are in the process of building up the garden in preparation for bees so this will be a new ventur for us!
I also added an additional brood box. So I am not really expecting to get honey until October or November. The rain tends to keep them inside and so they are not out foraging when it is raining.
We have 3-4 flow hive members at the Travis County Beekeepers now. I think only one has had them long enough to have honey so far. 
He brought some frames in and extracted at one of our meetings, it was fun! A little messy, but super cool to watch it! Tanya
I just watched the flow hive honey harvesting video of Roselyn in Blanco and would like to connect with her. Does anyone know if she is here on the forum?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C9zhcQGPGc&index=16&list=PL0cW96U9vYJmpZdAAqd54lMabitn5zOIy
I’m in the San Antonio area. I lost my first set of bees last year, but I’m getting a nuc in about a week. My biggest question is whether to use a second brood box (deep or medium) on my Flow Hive system. I’m thinking a second deep so I can easily split them next year. How has the second brood box worked out for you?
I see you are using an additional medium for brood. Is that correct. Would you suggest the same set up or going with a second deep for brood here in Central Texas? I’m in San Antonio.
No. I would recommend two deeps or three mediums for your brood box. However, if your bees are strong and since the flow is just around the corner, I wouldn’t worry this year about the brood box. Put your Flow super on your strong hive and get all the honey you can. After the honey flow, take off the Flow and put your brood boxes on. Let them draw out the brood boxes with the sugar water that you’ll be feeding them after you rob. You don’t want to waste all that really valuable honey on drawing out brood comb. Let them use sugar water to do that.
I was not able harvest last year partly due to a late start and partly due to adding a second brood box. However, they are off to a great start this year and I am about ready to harvest this weekend it looks like. Woohoo!
Bob Baldwin
"To know, love, and glorify God, and to be used of Him to raise up qualified laborers, in significant numbers, as fast as possible, to help fulfill the Great Commission."
Been a year now so Bowes it going. Live in B/CS Interested in talking to someone who is using 1