Is this a bee larvae?

small ‘spikes’ along them suggest SHB

Each time I’ve opened up the hive and it’s only been 3 times (NUC) I have never seen a small hive beetle in it yet. The other hive, 12 inches away does have a few that I have found in traps but nothing more than that.

Looking for treatment, and my preference is using essential oils if anyone can suggest something

Hi Marty - there’s a trap called a Beetle Blaster that you pour a little veg or mineral oil into, that works by being an attractively dark corner that beetles want to hide in. Then they drown in the oil :smile: Some also put vinegar in, maybe they like the smell.

I just put one of these in yesterday - with oil and vinegar.

yes, I have it in both hives. Have not seen any beetles in this NUC yet but found these Larvae. My mentor, after looking at the video thinks is Wax Moths.

in my big hive, I also have the beetle traps and do get some beetles in those traps. but again have not seen any in this NUC yet

Ok gotcha - as I understand it the bees will deal with the wax moths if they have enough numbers for their space & you can help them out with another trap:
https://forum.honeyflow.com/uploads/short-url/uRTfMHTdqr1jZARVRTqRB7AvvbO.PNG

Thank you so much, I will do this tonight when I get home from work.

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I’ll read this again but is there a distance it should be away from the hive? Should it be in the front on the side on the back of the hive?

I hung mine on the fence right behind the hive, about 3 ft away.

Hi All
I have a couple of questions (from a new starter bee keeper);
1- When I put the additional new Brood box underneath the existing Brood box, do I need to put a queen excluder as a separation in between??
2- I have seen some photos where the bees entry was blocked with timber board with a little opening carved into it. Is this a good idea? If so why and if not why??
3- How long (roughly) before I put the Superbox on top??
4- With the flow Hive Superbox Lid has a round hole. Can anyone tell me the function of this opening??. My common sense tells me that the bees will find a way to get through it to the top gable/roof and get trapped in that chamber.

Hi Mari

Where are you based?
Are all the frames drawn up and being used on the 1st brood box?

My answers to your question

  1. You would only use the queen excluder where you don’t want the queen to go and lay eggs. Like the Honey Supers / FlowSuper. This prevents the queen to lay eggs where the honey is being stored for extraction.

  2. The Entry is shortened to allow the bees guard the hive during the winter period. During this time of the year you have wasp and other bees trying to robe the hive. Having a small entrance allows them to guard the hive better.

  3. I live in London and the nectar flow is finished here, you would put the FlowHive super after the bees have fully occupied both the brood boxes, and there is a nectar flow. I have taken my Superbox out and will put it back on the hive next year around April / May when the bees start to bring in the honey.

  4. That is called a Crown board, you can feed the bees through the round hole. I have the round covered during the other times as I don’t want the bees to create a comb on the roof. Also the crown board helps to maintain the temp in the hive better.

I hope my answers have helped you.

Paras
Thanks a lot for your response, that was very enlightening.
I have another set of questions and I would like some answers. various Experienced Bee keepers are most welcome to help out with these answers.
1- When is the best time to slide the new Broodbox under the old broodbox, during dusk when the bees settle down, during the day (in this case do I need to use the smoker) or whenever
2-HOw can I detect looking from outside, if there are any issues, such as bees are stressed out, or there is a disease, or some sort of unwanted insects/pests or whatever
3- If I wanted to turn the hive 180 degress what is the best time to do that?? And would this impact on their behaviour or they would adjust automatically
4- What is requeening?? Some beekeepers claim that you should change the queen every x number of months (why if this is true), and others say that it is a natural process where the bees detect any sickness of the queenif shes not performing up to their expectation, they just select another queen and kill the non-performing/sick queen

It sounds like you are a new beekeeper, in which case I always recommend suiting up and using around 3 puffs of smoke (one in the top of the hive and 2 in the entrance). There is no magic about those numbers, just most people either use too little or too much smoke :wink: Add boxes when the bees are busy - around the middle of the day, but never add boxes in winter.

You can’t. You have to inspect inside the hive. But only do that on warm days in Spring, Summer and early Autumn.

You can’t turn a hive entrance through 180 degrees in one day. You have to to do it by no more than 30 degrees per day or two, and I prefer slower than that (so do the bees). If you try to do it faster, you may have a lot of confused bees hanging on the outside of your hive, unable to get in.

Requeening is when you inspect the hive, find the queen, kill her and replace her with a new queen of your choosing.

You never replace the queen unless you need to, and doing it every few months is monstrous and hugely disruptive, in my humble opinion. :blush: The reasons to replace her are many, and you should probably read a good book on beekeeping to give you an idea. Some of the reasons are old queens lay more drones, some queens just don’t keep the hive happy, some queens have a bad brood laying pattern, some queens get diseases. Too many reasons to outline in the forum. You need a good educating source. :wink:

It is true, feral hives select what they want. However, we don’t have any statistics on the health and honey production of feral hives. Are you keeping bees just to give the bees space, or do you want honey and other products? If the latter, you might want to have a little say in what kind of queen your hive selects.

Just a few thoughts. :blush:

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Dawn

Thanks a lot, you are a wealth of knowledge and I am honoured to exploit your experience.

REgards

Hi All (especially experienced Bee Keepers) few questions and I welcome more than one response:
1- I have prepared a new Brood Box to slide under the old Brood Box, until few experienced Bee Keepers from the (Amateur Beekeepers Association, during a monthly meeting) have recommended not to install another Brood Box, for the following reasons;
a- I will have a huge population of bees which will be difficult to handle (for a newly starting Bee Keeper)
b- I will miss out on honey season or 2 as the bees will be busy filling the Brood Boxes with honey
c- they did mention to slide the new brood box on top rather at the bottom (as some fellow forum mates have done/proposed, such as Mr Gerald with his humongous 5 tier tower hive)
2- There are 2 slots for the foam board in the bottom of the bottom board, which slot would you recommend to slide it in and why/when
3- What are the benefits of using 2 Brood Boxes and why
4- Would I wait for the 2 Brood Boxes are filled completely with honey, before I put the SuperBOx on top??? or can I put it straight away along with the new Brood Box.

Help Help Help
I have some of the bees about a thousand of them sitting on the ledge near the entry to the Brood Box for the last 8 hours. Any idea what could be the problem?? could it be intruders inside the brood box that may represent a threat to the bees which prevents them from entering the brood box??

Hi @helomari0413 Houssam- can you please remind us what part of the world you live in? Additional brood boxes are recommended for climates that have colder winters, to ensure a larger bee cluster that will have a better chance of surviving until spring. People living in milder climates don’t necessarily need to worry about this. If your local beekeepers said not to do it, it’s probably best to heed them.

About adding a box - whether it’s for brood or for honey - you should always wait until signs show that the bees need it and are able to defend the additional space from pests. These signs have to do with what time of year it is in your area, the overall health of your colony, and how many bees there are. Never add more space than your bees are ready for. So adding an extra brood box plus the Flow super all at once is right out :wink:! Even if you don’t end up adding another brood box, it might not be the right time to add your Flow super - again, that’s best explained by local beekeepers who understand your local climate & seasons.

What season is it for you where you are? If it’s spring or summer, or you live in a hot part of the globe, the bees are probably bearding- it’s a way of getting themselves cool in hot weather & isnt a problem. Or, possibly they could be about to swarm - still a totally normal, springtime behavior, just not so helpful for you if you hoped to keep them & have honey this year! Can you post a photo?

Hi Eva and Flow Forum members

I live in Sydney Australia and I am having a bit of a problem with the Flow Hive. Since the start of March, the flow hive didn’t have not even one drop of honey in the Upper Super Box, not that I am concerned about amount of honey, rather concerned about the health of the bee colony. What do I need to do??

Thanks

Hi there - regarding your season and available forage I’d suggest you get advice from beekeepers in or at least near Sydney. It’s possible your bees just can’t do anything with Flow or other supers because there isn’t much nectar right now where you are. If that’s so, it’s really important to adjust your hive setup accordingly & remove your Flow box altogether. Again, that would be best judged by locals (I’m in Pennsylvania USA).

If there is a decent flow now & in the next few weeks where you are, then check the thread called How to Encourage Bees to Use the Flow Frames on this forum. Basically you apply beeswax to them so they smell familiar…

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Hello helo, are you in a bee club? Do you have a mentor? How many colonies do you have? How old is it? How many brood boxes? Is it registered?
You see Houssam, there are so many variables, the more information presented the easier it is to assess.
When you last did an inspection how did the brood look? How many frames were built out and was it brood or honey? If your colony has not started to work the Flow frames by now then perhaps you should take them off and build the bee numbers and stores for next spring.
By the way my full flow colony didn’t deposit a drop of honey into the Flow frames this year even though it was full of bees but they did complete the frames ready for next year. :wink:

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