Hi from Perth WA

Thanks Aaron! I may well take you up on that… when I get around to building my hive. I knew I would have a bit of learning to do to keep bees, but reading this forum has convinced me to do a bit more research before I jump straight in: they seem more complicated than cats, fish and chooks, with which I am familiar…

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I stumbled across it while I was curious about how to catch a will swarm. The video (and subsequent excellent thread) is here, I think… A Huge Swarm Turning Up

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Thanks Sue. That is exactly what I was looking for.

Welcome Sue I’m just up road in Stirling. Love Leederville for the vibe food n coffee. A bit like Subiaco in the 90’s but better with less Liberace’s.

Anyways ive had my FH since October and ive already had 2 batches of honey. The 1st extraction i only took a couple of kilo’s but extracted alot over the long weekend just gone but i run a triple. We have an abundance of flower and i imagine where u live being a well established area, there will be lots of trees and an abundance of food for yr girls pretty much year round…

Location, just put it where it gets some early morning sun so it kick starts the bees, face the entrance of the hive north/east- ish, establish a water source from day one so you’ll know where the bees will be drinking from.

Buy some tung oil and apply liberally (i did 3 coats when it was wet as it kept soaking in), the initial coats will just keep soaking in. Let dry for a day and reapply but you’ll notice it wont soak in so quickly, it then should be fine. Also u can silicone seal the roof slats if there are gaps, i do this from the outside. Or leave the internal cover off and the bees will seal it up.

I recommend putting down some sort of lge flat tray on the ground, that can store some water, put some bricks in it and put yr FH on top. keeps the ants out and roaches. If yr worried about bees drowning find some lite aluminium plate or sheet of wood and place tween FH and bricks. Will give the bees a bit of a ‘landing field’ when they are drunk and miss the target. funny watching that.

Have fun and join The Apiarists society if u can, meeting held 1st Thursday of every month in south perth, nice folk

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G’day Rodadon, I’m just around the corner from you, in North Balga. Having just bought a Flow hive and capturing a swarm in my back yard. I’ve been getting a swarm nearly every spring and my wife has refused to O.K. a hive. But this year, she’s relented and I bought a flow Hive. Was totally unawares for the need to put frames in the brood box, (so much for the instructions) thank God for Youtube, I’ve also had an issue with the Queen excluder. Refer to the pics I’ve posted, still trying to work out which is the excluder the mesh one or the wooden one. Dont really want the brood to get into the top, so the sooner that gets sorted, the happier we’ll all be.
Going down to Symond’s seeds Monday and resolve the frame issue.

Welcome, Itchyvet!

I got my Flow hive last year, but it has just been gathering dust until now. I got a Nuc from Magick Planet, and just transferred the frames to my Flow brood box this afternoon. Didn’t your Flow hive come with the frames already?

As for the queen excluder, that’s the plastic sheet with lots of rectangular holes. The wooden one with the central hole is the top - for just under the roof. But you don’t want to put your Flow Super on yet: let the bees settle in to the brood box, and fill it up first.

I’m not expert (first bees installed just today!!) but I have been reading up on it all for several months…

Sue

Hi Sue,
No, my Flow hive did not have any frames included. I thought that was pretty poor business.
I did not get a plastic excluder, but only the two items I posted pics of, still trying to work out how bees are supposed to get thru the stainless steel mesh one which looks to me, like fly wire.
I haven’t got anything with a central hole in it, I too questioned the open top, unless that’s where the fly wire thingy is supposed to go ?
I’m going to get some frames tomorrow for the brood box, and seriously considering removing the Flow box and simply closing off the top of the brood box until they settle down some and get well established.
Yeah, I’m far from an expert, most grateful to Youtube though.
Thanks for getting back to me, will try to keep the Forum informed of my progress.
Regards,
Eddy

@itchyvet
Hi Eddy,

Where did you post the photos?

Did you get the genuine Flow hive?

Hi and welcome to our flow forum.
As Dan, I wonder if you got the genuine full flow hive?
It sounds like you don’t have an inner cover or queen excluder, but the mesh bottom board and no frames? That’s odd.
Would be helpful to see some pics of the parts you have.
Flow sends out their hives with an assembly instruction booklet and they have plenty of videos on everything you need to know.
Best you post your pics.

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I didn’t see any pics… That might help a bit…

Gday, hmm not sure if u have an original FH, as the frames come in a bundle and do need to be put together, otherwise go down to symonds in hutton st osborne park and buy 8 pre made frames with wax foundation

Send me a pm if u like with yr mobile no and on the way home one afternoon, i can drop by as see what yr doing

When u set up the FH, just set the bottom box up, the brood box, and put a lid on it. The queen excluder comes later And thats it for starters

Dont put the top box on yet, let the bees numbers swell right up till they are busting at the seems, that being the frames around 80 capped…And thats when u put the 2nd box on top

\Bees have to maintain the box at a predetermined temp for brood to hatch, otherwise the hive will struggle

Id suggest finding a bee buddy, keeping bees is like playing golf, u need proper instruction to get going and join the apiarists society, no meetings for this year but get ready for next year

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G’day Rodadon,
Just a quick update on my situation. My captured swarm, for some reason, decided they didn’t like their new abode and decamped to set up in a sunny location on a brick wall 20 feet from their now vacant home. Seems like the preffered the sunny brick wall rather than the nice shady spot in the garden. Anyway, towards evening I place the brood box really close to the swarm, and within a couple of hours, they were all back inside.
I’ve now moved the hive to a sunnier location. I have it placed on a modified old wheeled BBQ frame which is just the right height for me. BUT, today I noticed tiny ants climbing on the wall of their box.
I’v had major issues with these little buggers over the years, with my fruit trees and even my veges I grow, they are a real pest. I had not thought the ants could be a problem :frowning: I have now sprayed the legs of the stand with a deterent, hoping to keep the ants at bay.
Has anyone else had an issue with ants, and how was it resolved ???
B.T.W I now have 9 frames inside the brood box and three are filled up already. Wont take long for the box to fill at that rate. :slight_smile:

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Yes most of have had problems with ants.
Type ants in the search box (that magnifying glass thingy)

Everyone is anxious to see your photo’s to get an understanding of your hardware.:camera:

I lost a hive to ants in 2016. I have now installed ant moats (as @busso suggested, type ant moat in the Search function), and my hive is happy and healthy.

Hi Dawn, Thanks for that.
Yes, I’ve used the same system on our worm farm now for many years. I was going to do the same with my hive stand, but one end has got wheels on it, making things awkward, unless I remove the wheels. And that is probably the way I’m going to go if things don’t improve.

I got the following recipe of Eva

1 part borax to 3 parts sugar then dissolve the lot in water

Place in a small clear jar, wrap the top with glad wrap or similar and hold in place with an elastic band

Poke some hole for the ants to crawl in and munch away in the gruesome deadly broth, and make sure you provide nice easy access into the pond of death

And yes it does work, i also sprinkle a little borax near the fh opening holes where the honey is drained from because the little dastards know exactly where to go and i have minor leakage in a couple, a pita really but such is life

Otherwise form some sort of container to put the legs in and fill with water or whatever u think is appropriate

ciao

Will treasure that one for sure. Thanks.

Hi Rod
I am hoping to meet up with local Perth people to gain some practical insight into this venture I’m embarking on.
Balcatta is very close to me and I would love to meet up to hear of your apiary journey.
If you have any time to I’d really appreciate it
Marie

Sent you a text M
BTW the Apiarists society of which im a member has a meeting shortly in balcatta in tilinga street, but u need to be a paid up member of WAAS. Honestly worth signing up, yearly fee of about $50 and yr learning will grow exponentially.
An informal gathering of sorts where a small group gets together and chats, n shares bee knowledge

Thanks Rod

I have just been accepted as a WAAS member and will attend the 7th March meeting.

I hope I can get to the local Balcatta meeting but I’m due to return to Samos about that date so it could be a bit late unfortunately.

Let me know if your free any other time, I’d be happy to catch up.