I’m brand new to bees… have my Flow Hive all built and ready for the arrival of my Nuc on Saturday morning… any tips I need to know before it all happens? Thanks in advance for all the friendly bee love!
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Hey Bee-anca! Welcome, great name 
That’s so exciting your bay-bees arrive on Saturday.
My tips would be to watch videos on how to transfer a nuc into a new brood box, and to suit up so you aren’t worrying about getting stung while trying to focus on how-to.
Lots more to offer but better to go one step at a time!
Let us know how it goes 
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Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! 
I second @Eva’s suggestions and would add:
- Join a local bee club and see if you can get a mentor
- Read as much as possible. This forum is searchable. Many people may have had the same questions as you, which have already been answered. Just use the magnifying glass tool at the top of this page to find previous posts. If you can’t find an answer, just post your question and we will do our best to help.
- Don’t put the Flow super on the hive when you install the nucleus. You will want the colony to be strong before you give them even more space to heat/cool and defend from pests.
- When you are inspecting the hive (which you should do every week or two) save any burr comb that you scrape off which will be gluing frames together (you need to do this, and it isn’t damaging to the colony). You can then gently smear it on the plastic Flow frames, like peanut butter on toast. It will make the frames smell like the hive, and make the bees quicker to accept and use the plastic frames.
Enjoy your journey, there is a lot to learn. You will make mistakes, we all do, even after decades of experience. Bees are resilient though, so forgive yourself and learn from each one, so that you will become a great beekeeper over time.
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Welcome, it is an exciting day.
If you haven’t already had a look through the information from the WA Apiarists Society it is well worth having a browse and read. Particularly the WA Apiarists’ Society - Best Practice Guidelines for Urban Bee Keeping (waas.org.au) , it also provides an insight into the legal requirements with the State and Local Government WA Apiarists’ Society - Legal Obligations (waas.org.au).
Hopefully you have already applied for your Hive Brand from the Department of Primary Industry and Regional Development? Registering as an owner of stock or as a beekeeper | Agriculture and Food
WAAS also have lots of Bee Buddy Groups to meet and discuss beekeeping, as well as a monthly publication, a heap of members only resources on their website. Your membership also includes beekeeping public liability insurance as well as access to the training courses they run.
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Thank you so much Dawn, I’ve done some searching and found a local bee community. I appreciate your guidance x
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Thank you so much for sharing Eva, I did exactly as you said and my bees and their Queen Beyonce (my husband and daughter so quickly named) are now safely in their new hive. THere are a few bees still trying to go back to the box they came in which is next to the hive so hopefully they find their way to their new home soon… I’m looking forward to learning so much more.
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Thanks Adam, have just joined a few groups and already feeling more confident.
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That’s great there is a welcoming beekeeping community in WA. All the best and if you would like to chat let me know,
Adam
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Welcome Bianca, There’s also a Perth Forum:
It’s been quiet of late… maybe people are too busy harvesting…
Cheers,
Fred
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It has certainly been a good start of the season in the SW of WA. My hives are putting on over 1kg per day and I’ve seen some do almost 2.5kg a day for 7-10 days.
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That’s some serious liquid gold you’ve got flowing! How much out of each hive? That’s incredible!
I’m only just starting to think about taking some. Last season was so poor that they had very poor stores coming out of our mild winter. But now most have put on 25-35kg it is time to do some harvesting. But it will only be 10kg or so per hive until I know the Jarrah and/or Marri flows are going to produce. Last season they didn’t and these stores needed to last the hives 12months
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