Anyone in NE Okla with flow hives?
I am am a newbie bk in the Tulsa area. Would like to connect with other FHBK around.
Here here! Iām in Sand Springs (Prattville) area. My Cedar Flow arrived around Christmas; ordering a nuc tonight, if they still have oneā¦
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum. If you canāt get a nucleus, I highly recommend a bee package from Mann Lake. They are very gentle bees, and they are shipped very competently.
If you need help with understanding how to install them, just ask. No, I donāt work for Mann Lake, or for Flowā¦ 
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Thanks Dawn for reaching out. I am still sourcing a Nuc (or two) locally, but will definitely give Mann Lake a try if I donāt have luck nearby. I would like to be sure I am prepared to transfer the nuc bees into the flow though, is there a good forum resource for that assistance/info? Iāll be getting a 2nd hive setup simultaneously, but it will be traditional. I want to increase my chances of having a hive survive this coming summer.
.Oklahoma can be rough. This grand experiment will be quite the learning experience, I am sure!
Thanks for any help you can provide!
-Sean
You will find a lot of posts about it if you use the magnifying glass search tool at the upper right, and type āinstall nucleusā, without the quote marks.
There is also an education web site run by Flow. They have well-known beekeepers from all over the world teaching you many aspects of beekeeping, with a Flow hive emphasis. There is a subscription fee, but you can try it free for a month. I just checked, and they have step by step instructions for installing a nucleus into a Flow hive:
Looks great! I will definitely use the search tool as you have suggested. I have family in San Diego, do you sell your honey? If so, Iām sure they would be interested.
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Yes, we do. Havenāt sold any this past year because of the pandemic, but I do have some for mask-wearing, trustworthy peopleā¦ 
I have jars of liquid honey ($15 for 12oz) and some cut comb (sold by weight at $2 per oz, prices around $18 to $23).
Have you found a place to get your bees yet? I ordered mine from Roark Acres in Jenks. From what I can tell it was a very good price for a 5 frame nuc ($155).
I got my 6-frame cedar around Thanksgiving. Getting ready to order a second one.
Do you ever look on Youtube for videos about beekeeping? If you do, view Frederick Dunnās channel. He is an amazing source of knowledge. He does a beginner beekeeping q&a every Friday night.
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I mentioned Frederick Dunnās YouTube channel and there are plenty of others. Fred is located in NW Pennsylvania and has a number of Flow Hives. He classifies himself as a backyard beekeeper. He was one of the original adopters when Flow did there Indiegogo campaign. He also has a Facebook forum called āThe Way To Bee, A Fellowship of Backyard Beekeepers with Frederick Dunnā it is really good as well.
Kamon Reynolds also has a YouTube channel that is good, but he is a commercial beekeeper.
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thebeekeeper.org is a great resource!! You can join it, but you should have been given a 30-day free trial with your flowhive.
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Anyone can get a 30 day free trial - just go to the web site!
Those are great references, thank you. I have not decided on a source for my nucs yet, but am talking to Dane Strickland (rjsbeefarm.com) in Owasso, as well as Shelly Hannaford (Hannafordbees@gmail.com) in Jay/Bixby. They both have good reputations, but I have not seen Roark Acres in Jenks. I am in Sand Springs, so Jenks would be much closer than Jay/Bixby or Owassoā¦
Here is the link to Roark Acres
Thanks Joel. I wonder if standard nucs will work in the flow, or we need to be sure to tell them specifics about the flow brood box?
The Flow brood boxes are standard deep Langstroth boxes, 8 or 10 frame depending on if you have a 6 or 7 frame Flow super.
Just make sure you get a deep frame nuc and youāll be good.
thanks so much! I was having trouble logging in to answer my own questions so decided to reply to this thread. I had assumed so, but Iāve been there done that and remember the regret LOL.
Sean, The nucs from Roark are 5 frame deep nucs, so they should fit right in to the Flow brood box.
Joel, sorry for the late reply! I ended up ordering 2 nucs from Hannaford; eta by next Friday 5/21. The unordinary winter temps and extended rains this year have definitely impacted scheduling.
Well, I have two Nucs coming from a local established source (Huzzah!) but ran into an interesting question I havenāt seen duplicated on the forum elsewhereā¦ for the tl;dr readers, the last five sentences sum it up.
Hereās where Iām at:
Iāll be getting two deep 10-frame Langstroths with the Nucs I have ordered, to start two hives simultaneously, but only have one flow (so I will have one traditional alongside it - this will be interesting!).
We just went through quite a winter here in OK, thus I am also planning to add 2nd brood boxes to both as well.
One of the Nucs will be used as-is with itās frame feeder, to start the Traditional Hive.
On starting up the Flow hive with the 2nd Nuc, here is what I am planning:
-Transfer the Nuc frames into the Flow brood box, then add a 10-frame Langstroth above for 2nd brood (when ready), and eventually top it off with the Flow Super.
SO, Iāll have a Flow Cedar-7 brood box and base, with a traditional 10-frame Langstroth above, and finally the Flow Super above thatā¦is there anything wrong with mixing things up like this? Will the dimensions even allow this?
Other questions Iām pursuing:
Does having ātraditionalā and Flow hives as neighbors in any way change the recommended hive spacing?
Frame feeding versus top feeder (I have 6-8 lb of wild/swarm honeycomb as food)?
Nope sounds fine. They are all Langstroths.
Nope
I prefer top feeders, but that is personal. Frame feeders take up brood box space, and I prefer to leave that for the bees.