Hello.
I am a new beekeeper. I started August 2023 and just purchased a FlowHive so I will have two hives.
Any tips, or suggestions, please let me know.
I have been watching videos and I have two great mentors; however, they have never worked with a Flow Hive.
hi, I’m in hot hill country texas and 1 year into flow hive use. I’m getting super frustrated! I would appreciate tips too. I’m going great with my langtroths but these flow 2 hives are thin, crack, and my girls have yet to fill any of the flow frames. sigh I do find that placing DE in the trays help me identify pests and problems right away with a tray inspection, and I clean them every few weeks. These hives do well in dry conditions, but I have found that any moisture or foggy days will create a condensation problem, as well as wet trays.
in winter, I wrapped them in tar paper, had a north wind block, and placed telescoping lids with a quilt box on top of a brood box - removed the supers. Even with a screen bottom, and tray, they did ok. Our winters dont have too many freezes though.
Also, super high center of gravity on these, so figure out how to make sure they are not tippy and will not blow over in the wind. Something I find odd - having the roofs fly off in a storm.
I’m still learning these flow hives, and tweaking the set ups, but hopeful that this spring nectar flow will show results. I’m a month into seeing a huge brood build up, so I’ll be putting the supers back on soon.
cheers
Thanks for the info. I wondered if they needed strapped down. I’m looking forward to trying. I’ve ready a ton of different reviews.
Hey Teresa, welcome to the forum - and you too @ChristyC 
I remember how hard it was to wait and wonder after all the excitement of getting a Flow hive! I got solid advice and encouragement here, above & beyond any other forum and even the bee club as a newbeek, and about the Flow system in particular I learned from others that unless your climate provides a year-round nectar flow a strong colony will need at least one good season to get the cells in the Flow frames waxed up to the point where nectar can be stored. When you keep in mind that this was invented in sub tropical Australia, it makes sense. I’m sure your Texas weather is a bit different from mine up here in PA 
and you might be closer to that in temps at least, but rainfall is another thing. It takes a lot of nectar to build comb, and a Flow super is really a massive space.
That’s definitely an issue you should have input on from @Freebee2 or @KieranPI at Flow. They’re super helpful & knowledgable and will reply soon to investigate now that I’ve tagged them. If your equipment is a genuine Flow hive they’ll address what went wrong. Unfortunately there are copies sold as Flows that are pretty poorly made and known to malfunction.
Another example of a tweak you might need to make for your particular weather patterns. If you have a lot of strong wind where you are you might want to use regular lids year-round so you can keep a brick on top. You could either swap the Flow lid back on for harvesting or modify the standard one so there’s an opening in back for key insertion. I’ve seen others here who’ve put hooks on the sides. @Martha in TN once used straps weighed down on either side with water- (or was it sand?) filled milk jugs to keep hers from tipping when big winds were coming 
Hey Martha 
. I have a couple cement pavers that are larger than a brick and actually stay put on the slant.
That’s fantastic - if your Flow frames were on last season they may be well-prepared now, so as long as there’s lots of nectar out there the bees can start loading them quickly 
Keep us posted!
Good luck and I hope you both stick around and keep asking questions whenever you need to!
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hi Eva,
Sorry I’m not really savvy on forum use.
I see that you told me to reach out for help on the warped and cracking flow hives I have. Do I find those people here? Yes, I purchased real Flow Hives. Pretty disheartening that 5 of 7 boxes, complete set ups, purchased have warping, cracking and alignment issues!
Hi Teresa, the forum is really just for beekeepers to talk about the various aspects of caring for bees, but occasionally people have issues with the equipment and need Flow to respond. When that happens someone tagging a moderator or two should result in one of them reaching out, and then directing the complaint to customer service. But, maybe they aren’t active here anymore. I myself have not been as active lately so I can’t even guess who’s the main moderator at the moment 
Best to go straight to the source at this point anyway. Check for customer support on Flow’s website honeyflow.com - I am sure they’ll address those problems!