I put my hive together last night and thought I would share some things that I did that you should not do, and somethings I did that you should do.
1- On the Flow super box… there is a definite front and back to these pieces. Pay attention to where the pre drilled holes are for clues as to which is correct. This cost be some time having to take all the screws out and put them all back in when I screwed this up. Luckily it was really no big deal just a pain.
2- Do pre drill your holes when installing the roof in particular. It helped me immensely square up and position the panels not also having to worry about maintaining that position by hand/eye. There were also some knots in inconvenient places that ended up being no big deal because I pre-drilled them
3- Several pieces had a slight warp/curvature to them. This was easily remedied with some weight while screwing them together. But clamps would have made my life 100% easier. I highly recommend them.
Over all it was pretty smooth sailing, that’s just my 2 cents.
HI @adagna, I Just finished putting my hive together last night! I found some of the same problems you did. I realized after I got it all together that I didn’t put some of the front and backs confused. I just drilled holes to make them fit! I did notice that on the top box where I put the metal bar on the bottom it isn’t flush with the box. Is this going to be a problem? Do I need to undo and rebuild it all? I HOPE not!! as the bees are coming soon! I also stripped a few screws!! Ugh! But I managed to get all but one in and that is really why I hope I don’t need to redo the whole thing!! Thanks. Paula
Don’t panic ! You will not need the top Flow-hive Super until you build up you bee population Also regions in the U.S. it is more than wise to purchase n have a second deep box with normal frames (8 frames with or without wax foundation. I’d check with your local beekeepers to see what is the norm in your region. Additional supers can be easily acquired from Beethinking.com who build the wood pieces for Flow-Hive. Additional #10 x 1 1/2 or 2" round heads can be purchased at your local hardware store if needed.
Since you did not provide pix’s of your issues I’d only be guessing if you needed to reassemble anything. I doubt you mess up the lower brood hive box n that’s the important piece/box you will place your Nuc or package of honeybees in n tend too for awhile month or so depending on your local nectar flow. Each region is different.
. Please give us a few pix’s if possible full size n close ups of your problems n general location. Many on here are very skilled n can give you help … Just consider this a bump in the road n chock the mistakes if any to learning. At 70 years old I’m still learning n screwing up once in awhile.
Good luck n enjoy the journey !
Gerald
PS … In the future only drive the screws in with a drill motor most of the way. Finish by proper screw driver by hand to prevent cracking this beautiful soft wood n lessen chances of damaging screwheads. (Trust me … We’ve all probably learned the hard way at one time or another .,
The metal piece could be an issue but you will have to look at it all together and determine if it is or not. If there is too much sticking above the surface it could cause a gap in the box. That isn’t the end of the world as the bees will proplize it shut however all that propolis could make your life a little difficult down the road
Hiya PaulaLD, this was the only problem I had with the Flow I received. There should be a small recess on the sides where the metal strip joins the wood. It needs to be the same depth as the strips thickness. I used a sanding block to deepen the recess which solved the problem.
Hth.
@PaulaLD Are you sure you attached the Flow door end to the right ends of the box sides? Like @skeggley said, there should be a couple notches. Sometimes they are a little off in size, but yours appears to have no notches at all, which made me think maybe it was backwards!
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