Just goes to show how variable bee action is- my own hybrid is still sitting largely unfilled months after I added the super with no signs of a harvest to come. The four standard frames are 100% capped. All the flow frames are heavily ‘waxed out’ with bees all over them- some patches of capped honey and not one drop in any of the rear window cells. I now think it’s the particular colony- and I might requeen it.
Meanwhile my other two flow hives are rapidly filling with honey.
Quite probably to compete with the cheap imports others are bringing in (assume you are referring to Allowrie), but this is a different issue to the sweeping statement that all Australian store bought honey is heat treated/pasteurised.
Australian beekeepers make exceptional quality honey. Don’t believe everything in your Facebook feed.
Interested to know where your hives are located?
Did you establish from a nuc 5-6 months ago?
Direct reference from Capilano, including clarification on Allowrie.
http://www.capilanohoney.com/au/news/untrue-toxic-honey-allegations
I would not blame the queen.
Like many on this forum I went through the first season with not a drop of honey in the flow frames. I was grappling with dispare that the season would also be a wash out when there it was. Little deposits of honey in one frame. From there, 3 weeks latter I was harvesting the first frame and just today finished harvesting the other 5 frames.
Hang in there the bees a bit shy but once there is plenty of food (perhaps the key here is plenty of nectar) they fill the flows with gusto.
I would,
I have two hives side by side, one bought, BW, the other the Pot Colony. They are, in appearance, the same strength yet the BW colony is filling the FF’s yet the pot colony is not. BW has capped the std frames the PC is half capped. I can only put this down to the bees genetics, ultimately the queen.
It’s interesting to see the difference between them. Physically they look the same, orange and black 
and they both seem to bring in the same quantities of pollen and nectar. The bees will come back in a group and split as they get to the hives very cool. Their bearding is also different, one beards below the entrance the other above.
Having said this I would not requeen either of them, it is what it is, I’ll leave it in their capable errr… Legs?
I have another more compelling reason to blame the queen: that colony has some signs of chalk brood and I have been waiting for it to clear up in summer- it hasn’t- so I am thinking to requeen… perhaps that also explains why the colony is not filling the flow frames… having said that the idea of finding and killing the queen is something I am going to have to get used to. Don’t know if I can bring myself to commit regicide just yet.
I’m on the NSW Central Coast, just over an hour from Sydney CBD. A good friend supplied me with a full brood box so the bees went straight to work in the super.
Hi everyone, here is my penny’s worth and a few photos.
The hives are a bit extravagant, but were enjoyable to make and will outlast me as long as a bushfire doesn’t turn them in to ash. The hybrid super on the yellow hive (after the colour of the stand) had all the frames full, most probably because it is a strong hive and we have had good flowering of Red Stringybark, Eucalyptus macrorhyncha. The blue and white hives are splits taken from the yellow hive and queened at the beginning of summer. Both of their brood boxes are full of honey and brood. Blue hive seemed to be stronger with more bees so the hybrid super had been added in March with most of the honey is going in the flow frames, not the timber/foundation frames. Don’t ask me why. I guess it is a case of OTBK (only the bees know). I am only harvesting the flow frames, which has been so easy (Thank you Cedar, Stuart and the flow team). Any honey in the conventional timber frames is for the bees over winter, hence the hybrid super.
Your hives look amazing- very nice work. 
I can’t see the photos? Any ideas what is wrong?
That happens to me sometimes. It usually resolves within a day. You might speed that up by using a different platform (iPad/PC/phone etc).
Sure enough, working already. Strange.
Love your hives! Well done.
What’s the story with the ‘spacer’ above the super/below the lid? Is it some kind of ventilation? Could you please show me the inside? Ta
Looks like you drive wedges under the front for harvesting. How do you lift it up?
So cool!
The “spacer” above the super and below the lid is a quilt box with ventilation holes on the ends. When the weather warms up later in the week I will take some photos. It is now Autumn and getting cool enough to have cotton quilt wadding in the top. I will elaborate a bit more when there are some photos to post. You are right about the wedges, well spotted.They are to tilt the hive while harvesting the honey, a small jemmy bar was used to lift the hive end and slide in the wedge. Cheers.
Thanks for the compliment. I like to think they will endure so my grandchildren might benefit. Unfortunately they will one day be cooked in a bushfire unless I can build a bee house/shed with a sprinkler system on the roof, as I live in a well forested area of South Eastern Australia. Not such a silly idea as it would provide shade to mitigate the intense heat of an Aussie summer and shelter from cold winds in winter, plus a room to store stuff, and make mead!
Can I ask what type of timber you used and how you treated it?
I think shade is a good idea for beehives- and yours are worth the effort of fire protection.
Hi Michelle, Sorry for the delay in replying to your question. The timber is Merbau a durable hardwood and it has been coated with linseed oil.
Regards Neil.
Gorgeous results, Neil! They look like stacked treasure chests 
