Hi . We purchased a second hand flow hive today from some elderly friends who decided that they are moving house. Its very exiting! I moved it home this morning. Got one sting letting them out. No probs though. I need to learn plenty asap. Im looking forward to knowing what I have exactly and that its working healthy and well. Ive no idea about inspecting the insides of it. Thanks.
Rob
Hey Rob,
Welcome to the forum and beekeeping.
Find a local bee club asap. Hopefully there will be someone that can help you save your bees. Victorians are mostly preparing their hives for winter which means removing empty supers and ensuring they have enough food to last til spring. Hopefully, you’re not in Varroa country yet, but you’ll need to do monitoring and detection checks to know if you have mites.
Get to one of the upcoming free Varroa Workshops Training — National Varroa Mite Management Program. It’s an opportunity to connect with beekeepers, club members and learn a lot in one day.
Learn all you can fast. There are some good YouTube channels and loads of rubbish. A lot of foreign material doesn’t apply to Australia and some is illegal. Good sources are produced by American universities such as University of Florida https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAQHmJyzKkpByy06-aJdI79edGIDP7j4x&si=7BKcqHRYgxUec-mB
Flow Hive have good material too. But online training is no match for a beginning in bees class at your local club.
Good luck with your new obsession.
Mike