Good morning and thanks so much for your informative response. Yes the inner cover and roof are as per your photos. Last week I transferred my 5 frames from the nuc to the flow hive brood box with 3 brand new extra frames from the flow hive. These are foundation only. At the point of transferring, all 5 nuc frames had a good covering of brood, as well as capped honey, lots of bees etc. I was a bit nervous my first time to inspect to much but the colony seems to be well established. I’m planning on doing an inspection in about 4 weeks time but I’ll take your suggestion of putting a feeder in the roof. Do I make just a simple syrup of 50% water and 50% sugar?
I envy your patience! 
I would not be able to wait four weeks to see how my new colony is going on. By the way, small colonies usually more meek and this presents an opportunity to a new beekeeper for learning inspection techniques. Working with a nuc-size colony much easier, even if something goes wrong, compared to facing a kilogram of murderous airborne crocodiles as an introduction to beekeeping 
Yes. Syrup with 50-60% of sugar content is quite common. It is easy to dissolve and still high in food content. You would need hot water to start with and may need to continue to heat it until sugar crystals disappear. Don’t boil it though.
How much to feed is more complicated subject. There are too many variables to give an exact number. On one hand, we want to give enough food to cover their current needs, on the other, we don’t want restrict brood nest by stored honey. Plus we need to keep in mind that when bees process nectar or syrup they use ~3 times more cells initially compared to the final product to facilitate drying. If we, for simplicity sake, reject amount food they going to convert to wax and eat themselves and also trust me with reading supering requirement tables, the numbers are like this. If you start to feed 1 kg of syrup a day, on the first day they will need 0.8 frame to store it. On the day 6 they will need 3 frames. So, I think 1 kg of syrup a day will be a good number to start with, given that they are not starving. Continue to feed until all frames are built. Then see what are you going to do next
3 Likes
How do I introduce myself.? Im at the site but cannot find where to type ?
Cheers Savo
1 Like
Hi there Savo - you did it!
Nice to meet you, how are your bees doing?
Hello, I’m Philippa, Australian living in Switzerland. I’m starting out in this adventure, wanting to install a Flow Hive in the garden of our chalet in the alps, but first I have to get around the rules and regulations. If anyone on the Forum is in Switzerland, I’d love to hear your experience of importing a Flow Hive and any problems along the way. Beekeeping skills will be next. So happy to be joining.
4 Likes
Gruezi Phillippa,
My uncle lives just outside of Züri and is getting ready to install two flow supers on his two hives. We’ve talked a lot about getting started, there are just a lot of regulatory hoops to jump through, but once you’re past that, having a Flow Hive is a lot like a regular beehive, with all the responsibilities, just a better way to harvest the honey!
- Mateo
3 Likes
Hello,
I’m in north San Diego, CA and have a small veggie garden, chickens, vermicomposter, citrus trees, etc. When I found the Flow Hive a few months ago, I realized that it addressed my long-standing reservations about beekeeping. So we got a FH 2 Araucaria and I’ve just started to put it together. Looking for a good nuc now… Will be attending my first SD Beekeeping Society meeting tonight!
Cheers,
Andy
2 Likes
Newbie from loch lomand Scotland got my first two new hives in july been fine up to now just waiting to see how they come through this first winter
4 Likes
Hello from Germany,
I’ve been intrigued by the Flow Hives since they started their Kickstarter 8 years ago, but never found the time to look into beekeeping as much as I think I should. Lately I learned that we have multiple groups keeping bees at the university I am working at and asked one of them if I could join and bring my own hive.
I’ve now built my first FH2+ and only split the wood once while screwing the roof shingles :).
Next step is to add some weather protection. So I got proper beehive protection sealant which is a kind of stain/glaze specifically designed for bee boxes. It’s tested to not harm the bees in any way.
I understand I should not paint the insides, but I am not sure about the laser cut sides? I guess I should find more information about that first.
Either way I am happy to finally get started, learn new things and that I’m able to boast about having thousands of workers I care for.
Balu
2 Likes
Yes, paint them too. You want the whole outside surface painted to avoid water penetration and warping of the wood. 
2 Likes
Greetings from Oakland California! I’ve been an amateur beekeeper for the past 10 years and still don’t know really what I’m doing! I started by building several top bar hives, graduated to a Langstroth and have now inherited a used FlowHive. Three of the honey frames seem clogged up with old honey residue, perhaps crystallized. They won’t open with the flow key and I don’t want to damage the frames by forcing them open…what should I do? Help please!
Welcome to the forum! You have some good experience so far and you’ll get the hang of using the Flow frames I’m sure.
Pics would be really helpful so you get the right advice. If it is just crystallized honey in there, that’s a good scenario. You can just wash it out in hotish water. If this kit has come from a healthy colony and you’re sure there was no disease present in the colony the former owner had used it with, you could allow a colony to clean it up for you. In your shoes I would verify that carefully, and then freeze the frames overnight to kill off possible pest eggs.
Then, if you have bees in a Langstroth hive now, you could place the Flow super on top of the inner cover that’s on the brood box, and put the lid on the super. Give it a day or two and the honey will be eaten. Just make sure it isn’t too small or weak a colony to handle this effort.
Other reasons for stuck frames are propolis and brood cocoons. Photos or more description will help. If propolis is causing the problem, the freezer will also help. It gets brittle with freezing so gently working the key should do the trick. In warm weather you could keep having this issue, though, so it might be worth disassembling and cleaning anyway. Cocoons would also mean disassembly to clean.
Thank you Eva for your quick response!
Because I wanted to understand the frame design better, and because I had nothing better to do on this rainy Sunday, I disassembled one of the frames and washed all the pieces in warm soapy water. Clean as a whistle now! I want to make sure the cell open/close mechanism works properly before the bees move in.
Mark
2 Likes
Hi,
My name is Kim. I am a fairly new beekeeper - I started 2 langstroth hives last year (2022) here in NH, USA. I haven’t opened them this spring yet (It is currently snowing here), But I believe I lost one hive. I believe my other hive survived (It was stronger going in to winter).
I just received my first flow hive and assembled it - very excited to use it! I actually wanted a Flow hive when I first started but was talked out of it because no one around here was familiar with it and was willing to mentor me if I got one… But I took the dive and got one this year and am very excited.
I have had a hard time finding a consistent mentor in my area…
I am still trying to learn more but my plan is to expand each year and eventually expand to other friends properties when I have a better handle on it. Would love a total of 10-12 hives eventually.
Here to gather advice and learn!
2 Likes
Are you referring to the top and bottom sides that will be over/under other boxes? Don’t paint/stain those. Only the surfaces that are outward facing.
Hm. It’s too late for that now. 
I wasn’t sure because I wondered rain might get between the boxes and soak into the sides panels. Either way I have used stain that is specifically made to be used for hives, so it will not be an issue for the bees.
Only issue is if they stick together, which they are prone to do eventually anyway because of propolis…
I thought that the question was about the inter locking “finger” ends of each panel, which are blackened from the laser cutting, not the top and bottom of each panel. 
I agree with you, painting the top and bottom surfaces with some products can make the boxes stick together. Having said that, @JeffH paints every surface, including the inside, and doesn’t seem to have a problem with it.
1 Like
Hello from North Texas, USA! My husband and I moved out to the country a few years ago and have talked about wanting bees for some time. We now currently live on 40 acres and have what we hope to be a perfect location for some hives. However, we are completely new to this and have ZERO clue about caring for the beauties. We are attending a local beekeeping 101 class in a couple of weeks and are currently in the research stages of this operation. When the time comes for us to get our hives/bees we will be getting a Flow Hive and are very excited about this upcoming journey.
4 Likes
New beek here, waiting on bees 
to show up end of month. Lancaster, PA
2 Likes