Hi franmanning. I’ve just received my flow super (Sept 16). I’ve placed it on top of the brood box and super I’ve had for a couple of years now. I’m wondering if it would be possible to view your setup and see how its going. I’m in Aberfoyle Park.
Thanks.
Hi Fellow Adelaidians! We are in The Mallee, near Lameroo. The FlowHive has been set up since March '16 and we have just had a swarm settle in.
We have just ordered a second FlowHive, so have fingers crossed for a good summer.
Good luck to everyone.
Hello from Willunga!
I started a 5 frame nuc of bees in my flow hive in April. I’m really glad they have survived our winter! Now they have filled up all 8 frames pretty much, so I’ve put on the flow super as of a week ago. Lots of salvation jane and cape weed near us at the moment.
Romeo_c18h
Hi, I’m from Prospect in Adelaide, South Australia. I’ve been following the Flowhive story from it’s inception and finally ordered the hoop pine classic kit in time for Christmas as a present to myself.
I put it all together on Boxing day and am waiting for my wife to let me put the hive in the garden! There seems to be an irrational fear of bees amongst the community. In the meantime I’m reading up as much as possible on the forum and have attended a one day course in beekeeping run by a member of the Beekeepers Association.
Would love to know if there is a Flowhiver in and around my suburb.
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WillungaRange13h
Lucky you! Your are in for some fun this year with your bees!
There are a few of us in and around Adelaide. I’m out at Willunga. You can check out this thread if you haven’t done so already, Connecting with other Adelaide bee keepers and see the folks from around Adelaide.
Good luck!
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Romeo_c13m
Thank you for the link to Adelaideans!
It looks like my wife will definitely not have the hive in our backyard. My daughter lives in McLaren Vale and has no problems with bees. So I guess the hive will be housed there.
I don’t have the bees yet as I’m not that confident I know all the ropes.
I would love to see a flow hive in action. If anyone is keen to help I’m game enough to travel anywhere.
Regards
Romeo
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Hello fellow beeks, My name is Isabelle and I live in Julia which is just out of Eudunda. I have just installed my NUC in November and I am waiting for this wild weather to pass before I check on them. I think they would be quite rattled with some of the winds we have been having lately. Look forward to hearing what others are doing and any problems they are experiencing. When I first installed the NUC, the next day the hive was covered in bull ants. So with the four feet of the table the hive sits on, firmly sitting in four containers of engine oil, the problem is now solved… thank goodness. Looking forward to keeping in contact.
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G’day, I live in the Adelaide Hills in a un-named town as the local council says I can’t have bees because “bees are aggressive”, I can however have 3 pitbulls if I wanted to. Anyway I have had my flow hive since April last year. I lost a lot of bees in November due to them swarming on me twice 9 days apart. Their numbers built up again and today I took the honey from frames 2, 3 and 4 from a six frame setup. Just on 6 kg. Testing with the refractor showed they were at 16.5%.
This spring I collected 4 swarms from around the local area gave a couple away and put the other 2 into nuc boxes. I love watching the bees at the end of the day when they are all returning to the hive and seeing what they are bringing in, Regards
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I doubt whatever town that is doesn’t have plenty of wild honeybees- and I seriously doubt they represent any threat to the community. Theoretically managed bees that are bred for docility would out-compete feral bees and lower the overall aggressiveness of in town bees… they would also interbreed and theoretically lower the aggressiveness of the wild bees… But I imagine the council would be blind to these nuanced subtleties.
Apparently this was one of the biggest swarm years in Adelaide in recent memory- my friend caught and hived a wall swarm- and then 8 weeks later the hived swarm swarmed again and he caught them too. I got given two swarms and have another hived one to collect over the next few weeks. great year to start beekeeping! Freebees.
Down on the plains the bees are super busy- bringing in loads of nectar and pollen every day now. My flow hives are filling fast. be interesting to see how they fare over the next week and the high temps.
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does anybody know where I can buy a queen, prefer a liguarian. I am trying to get a headstart for upcoming season and avoid doing a split
cheers
I was never able to find one in South Australia- I rang a few KI breeders listed on the net but they never replied. I got my queen from Mulder Apiaries in NSW- they posted very fast to Adelaide- the price was good and the queen seems to be excellent. I am not sure if they would have any at this time of the year though.
cheers. I tried them no luck. Everybody I have contacted either does not reply or has sold the 2017/2018 stock already - looks like a business opportunity. I will have to do another split early next month. I was trying to get a head start on my horizontal hive by buying but the art of beekeeping is “patience”
in a month or so: prime swarm time! last year I got given two swarms and caught one- I could have got another 4 if i’d had equipment ready to house them. A big swarm will build up WAY faster than a small split. Get some swarm traps ready- and join the bee society- put an add on gumtree- plenty of swarms to be had if you are willing. before I stated beekeeping I’d never seen a swarm- or given them a seconds though. The moment I mentioned to people I was keeping bees- I kept hearing about swarms, and people with bees in tree hollows, the house, etc. If the warm weather comes back again - perhaps we will see some early swarms this year- my garden has turned a corner and is definitely thinking about spring…
Hello, I have ordered the flow hive 2. I am also in Mc Laren Vale if it would be possible to keep in contact.
Mark