Hello Alok, thanks for the photo you posted. This is a great forum to get advice and tips about bee keeping and if you can find a bee group in your area it is worth joining in for local knowledge as well.
Just a tip, if you find a local group some groups are âold school thinkingâ and if you say you have a Flow Hive the friendliness can turn off quickly so better to find out if they still think the world is flat. The nearest group to me is one such group. They made me feel guilty that I had bought four Flow Hives to get first hand experience about them, I felt very much an out-sider.
Cheers
I have connected with some locals and people that I have known but didnât know that they were beekeepers. Club meetings and tutorials seem to be mostly shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
I havenât brought up the type of hive with anyone, I think it is impertinent since, except for the technicalities of the flow super, the flow hive does not seem to change the basics of beekeeping.
I had been thinking that it might be too late to install a nuc this year but more than a few locals have told me that if theyâre in and established before mid-August goldenrod flow, they should be good for the winter. Not going to add the honey super this year at all, however, I will add a second brood box if they fill out the 5 empty frames in the first box that will be there after installing the nuc.
My experience with the local bee group was before corona virus, that seems so long ago now⌠I totally agree that the basics of bee keeping is the same with a Flow Hive as any other hive type.
I donât regard asking a person about their hives set up as âimpertinentâ I get lots of inquiries for advise and feel to give accurate advise I need to know information about their hive.
Your in the middle of your Summer so I canât see an issue in starting a colony now and if there is a reasonable flow you should have a strong colony before your Winter. I like your thinking of no super in the first year, that was my thinking as well for mine. My climate is sub-tropical so a second brood box isnât needed but the hives go into Winter very strong.
Cheers
That is very, very wise!
This all sounds perfect to me. You are going to be an excellent beekeeper! 