I would like to purchase an inner cover but my hive is 16 1/4 " x 20 1/4", so which size inner cover will fit.
Those measurements are for a 10 frame Langstroth hive Janet. Or a 7 frame Flow Super. Available from most bee equipment suppliers. or from Flow Hive themselves. I prefer to fit a vinyl mat over the brood frames with a cm gap on the width and length to still give air flow but I’m in sub-tropical Queensland so it might not suit your climate so if you like my idea check with local bee keepers or your local bee group first. What I’m talking about is flooring vinyl.
Cheers and a big welcome to the forum where you will find heaps of friendly folk happy to pass on tips and advice.
Thank you Peter, I am new at this and only had my bee’s 1 1/2 weeks. I live in Melbourne.
What came in the flat pack is ok, but the inner cover is mesh and in time I want to have honey comb in the roof space.
I appreciate your advice and am going to keep it in my ‘answers to problems’ list 
After much thought, instead of buying a possible inner cover that is too long or too wide, what I have decided to do is buy some ply wood and inlay it over the existing mesh, then saw a round hole in the center right through the mesh and ply, glue the mesh to the ply ‘plug’ with another couple of thicknesses of ply.
Much appreciated and thank you for your help. Happy festive season,
Janet
Are you sure you haven’t mistaken the mesh on the base board(floor) with the inner cover. which sits under to roof? The inner cover has a round hole about 75mm dia. A photo might be a help to figure out if they perhaps didn’t supply you with all that comes in the flat pack.
You don’t really want the bees building comb in the roof space, that makes it very difficult to remove the roof for your inspections and the comb they build there will break when you remove the roof. If you want honey comb most of the folks add a box of starter strips or a box of foundation and cut the comb out when the frame is fully capped.,
Cheers
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The hive came with missing pieces but on the assembly diagram and during installation of the bee livestock, this is what was indicated as the inner cover.
So, no I am not mistaken, hence why I joined this forum to find out what size to order.
Also, I intend to place a customized box over the hole to contain the comb production inside the roof and therefore keeping the honeycomb ‘contained’.
Thank you for your concern though
If you want to get the inner cover from Flow you only have to tell them what the number of frames you have in the brood box and they will provide the right one to you. I did away with the inner cover as I have said and use a piece of lino which I think is a better option. Most bee keeper plug the hole of the inner cover to prevent bees getting into the roof where excessive heat can be an issue with the wax melting up there in really hot weather.
Cheers.
Well, thanks for all your advice, I suppose it is early days yet and I will have to wait and see.
It’s all hit or miss at this point LOL >.<
Let me add my welcome to @Peter48’s
Was it a Flow hive, or a chinese kit? If it was a genuine Flow hive, Flow are very good about replacing missing or defective parts.
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Unfortunately, although it was advertised using the ‘Flow’ logo’s and pics, I truly thought it was what I was getting, I think it is a rip off version and I am currently disputing and sorting it out with the seller.
I will let you know what happens.
The seller also is not happy and wants it sorted too.
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Ugh, sorry about this. What a pain! If it really is a knock off, you probably won’t want to use the plastic frames either - they are very unreliable when they are copies. Also, the queen excluder may be very ineffective too, you would do well to buy a nice metal one made locally. 
By the way, @Freebee2 and the Flow legal team may be interested in knowing who the seller is and seeing the advert. They pursue these matters if it is a breach of their patent and trademark.
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The queen excluder is fine, it is made from a cedar type wood, and I purchased flow frames flat pack from flow separately so they are cool too.
As I mentioned, it is being sorted out.
Being the festive season, and also being a first time hive owner, I am in no rush.
I am aware of the legalities and I also have read the whole flow website.
I was one of the first people to put their name down to support the development of this wonderful product.
But sadly it has always been out of my price range. Until there was some kind of payment method available.
Queen excluders should only be made from metal or plastic. Wood does not keep its shape well enough to be reliable, as @JeffH will tell you. Wood queen excluders are a key clue that it is a Chinese hive. Sorry. 
I am not doubting your support of Flow, I just thought that you might want the perpetrators pursued. It isn’t your fault, they broke the law, you were a victim too. 
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Then I shall buy another queen excluder, but thanks for the info
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Keep your questions coming Janet, no question you have is silly if you don’t know the answer to it.
Easy to pic fake Flow Hive gear, look on the draining tubes and it should have the Flow Hive logo on the tubes as well as on the Flow Frame to the right of the drain tube and up about 2 cm’s. If the logo is not in both places it is a fake and the seller knows it. When it arrived the assembly info sheets should also have the Flow Hive logo on it so it isn’t hard to know.
If the QX is made of timber it is definitely a Chinese copy and not the genuine product. what you think is a cedar QX is actually made of bamboo and totally junk. Flow Hive kits come with a plastic QX which will last a couple of years so best to buy a metal QX that won’t become brittle and break when you are removing it for inspections of your brood.I hope you can get a refund and you can if you bought it thru EBay by opening a dispute. The people who sold it to you knew it is a fake a they know where it came from. So sorry you got ripped off.
Cheers
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If you got it off eBay ask for a refund. You should get it.
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Thanks Peter. No it was not through Ebay, It was through a reputable firm, hence why they are upset and investigating too.
As soon as I opened the flat packs I knew that it was not authentic.
Still, after much sanding down of connecting parts and drilling of supposed pre-drilled holes and purchases of the proper screws etc, I now have a hive.
I figured that it was an early model being phased out because of the discounted price.
My mistake.
So by next spring I should have enough to purchase the real thing as my 2nd hive.
I really can’t understand if the firm you bought from are a reputable seller of bee gear could be selling the Chinese junk and not be aware of it as not being the genuine Flow Hive. After all the Flow Hives have been around for many years now and your supplied must have known he wasn’t buying from Flow Hive to have on sold it you.
I have four Flow Hives in my apiary and pleased with the product but there is issues to aware of when it comes to extracting the honey, I talking genuine Flow Hives now. It can happen to get an internal honey spill when extracting the frames if you don’t know how to minimize the risks.
Cheers
Gee, now I am worrying instead of anticipating 
I never said it was a company that’s a seller of bee gear, if they were then they would not have been fooled.
No Janet, you used the word ‘firm’ in regards to the seller and I also used that word. Hopefully when the Xmas ‘silly season’ is over you can have the problem resolved in your favor.
The Chinese copies vary a bit in quality, about 6 weeks ago I was contacted by a young couple who wanted some advice about a new nuc they had bought to begin bee keeping. The nuc was fine but what they thought was a Flow Hive was a copy and the queen had gotten past the bamboo QX and laying in the super which shouldn’t have been fitted on a nuc. I packed the hive down to a brood box only and they are now trying to get a refund. Worst was a piece broken out in the honey chamber of one of the frames. It upset them to be faced with the fact they had spent good money on a dud product. Worst is that the seller on Ebay has so far been ignoring them. Something Flow Hive would never do.
Sorry I can’t be more positive for you but I have to say how it is, and the copies are a big issue for Flow and for those that buy the copies.
Cheers
Hello there janet,
I sell bees to people and this year I have had about 5 people contact me and all have these fake chinese flow hives. there are so many problems with them- any savings you made are not worth it. the queen excluder is no good- the inner cover (mesh) is no good, and the plastic frames are definitely no good. The perspex windows warp and allow bees to escape- and the hive bodies themselves are slightly too long so the frames only just sit on the little rebates. If you can get a refund- I suggest you do it.
If you are not 100% sure your actual flow frames are genuine: don’t risk using them. To go to the effort to build up a colony- and then put on the fake frames, have them fill- only to discover that they leak honey badly would be a very bad experience for both you and the bees. Some of the fake frames look very similar to the genuine ones but if you hold them up to the light you will see light shining right through the gaps in the row segments. Also when you operate the mechanism you fill find it is very loose and can easily move out of alignment. Also I would NEVER trust that the counterfeiters have used the best food grade plastics available- after all they are counterfeiters and would use the cheapest material they can get.
Post a pic of you frames here and I can tell you if they are fake or not. the hive is definitely fake.