Hi all.
Started my first hive 6 months ago and anxious about my first harvest. Have purchased 2 flow hives and can’t wait to shift my bees to the new hive
How will I do this?
Can I split my hive/bees across 2 hives. Will the bees simply create a second queen
Any tips welcome
Cheers in advance
Paul
Welcome! I too am a novice and purchased the Flow Hive. I’m inspired and eager to learn! I would love some tips on how to get started, I want to learn as much as I can before getting started. I look forward to this new adventure and want to make sure I am as educated as possible.
Hi Paul,
i would think much depends on what sort of hives you have now. I assume you’ve purchased two full flow hives? They will be Langstroth sized, so if those are what you have now the frames will interchange easily.
As for shifting them across i would think it depends on time of year and how your bees are doing.
As a novice myself I’m sure others can add more about splitting hives, but from my reading so far there are different ways of doing this. Splitting your hive would require introducing a new queen to the the one without. Sure, you could leave it to raise there own, BUT it will take 16 days for her to hatch and then the needs to mate, the start laying for you. Then those eggs need to hatch as workers -21 days. So you will lose 6 weeks at best, and if the honey is on the flow won’t have much to harvest I’d suggest. Then there’s laying workers to think about.
Do you have a local beekeeper who can help you do this when required, and check you’re colony is ready and able, the time of the year is right etc?
Just a few thoughts!
I’d like to read the answers to these questions too!
Can’t wait to start beekeeping. I bought the FlowHive because I thought it would be a great teaching/learning tool for my three kids (11,9,6) to experience the wonder of bees and honey production.
I’m excited to get started.
Hi Paul,
Sorry to reply as I can not figure out how to start a new line. I am new to bee keeping…and not that savvy at computers. I have ordered my Flow hive but have no idea what I am doing.
We have a hive which moved into one of our possum boxes. Unfortunately the strong wind and age has blown it so much it is hanging form a chain up a tree. The bees are still inside. I do feel so sorry for them but not game to get up and try to sort it out. It is autumn here so want to help them before winter. Will they move on their own if you make a cosy flow hive nearby? I live on some acres south east of Melbourne Australia. Any suggestions please?
Hi Gloworm, if the possum box is being blown around and/or is in danger of falling to the ground, you should either secure it better or get a local beekeeper or beekeeping club to move the bees into a hive. The bees will not leave the existing hive on their own, they will stay to protect their brood.
Hi Paul, you could
If your hive is only 6 mths old, then I would not recommend splitting, they may not have the numbers to cope. Buy in a new package/Nuc of bees.
I just love the way that once you have a colony of bees they will keep creating new colonies for you for free… 
Hi, I’ve recently moved to New Jersey from Toronto and it was a quick decision by my husband. He got a new job and a better one here, so we just moved at the earliest. Our packages are still on the way, most probably will be in any of the trucks of the mover, Armstrong Moving www.armmove.com (Toronto).
Okay, so while I was in Toronto, my friend once took me to his farm and he introduced me to bee keeping or bee farming, right? I kinda liked the idea and as I’m not having much to do other than managing our home. I would like to try it out. We do have some land, not that big. But, can I start it as a hobby, in a small scale? Maybe in some time, if everything favors, make it bigger.
So, how to start?
Standard advice really. Beekeeping is not a craft you can learn from the internet or from books, though both are excellent resources. You need to join a beekeeping club, learn to handle bees, get a helpful and knowledgable mentor and off you go.
Small thing…apparently…learn the life cycle of the bee, it’s where most hive manipulations originate . Judging by a lot of questions here some people obviously don’t.
Good luck
Yes the life cycle is the most important. We get that drummed into us at the meetings, But really the whole colony make-up, they way the colony functions and why is also a must, and 3rdly your location - what makes the pollen and nectar your bees will be able to forage and their seasons, the local weather patterns and extremes.
Hi All we are mum and daughter in pittwater nsw building our flow hive this weekend and have found the instructions a bit vague. We have built the super but would like to see a video of the next building stage … We cannot find a video anywhere! Please help as we are getting bees next weekend
Hiya poppyandsally, if you go to http://www.honeyflow.com there is a link to videos. There is a video in that link in which Cedar assembles a complete hive. He does it in less than 3 minutes in fact. 
Hi! Thanks for helping but we saw the flow super tutorial and we are all sorted for that. What we still need to set up is the brood box, roof and floor/beetle catcher. Is there any other tutorials for those things? We are new to bee keeping and don’t have an existing setup. 
Hiya, yes after reviewing the vid I see you are right, my bad. The bottom board assembly is already assembled and the brood box is the same as the super without the fiddly bits.
The roof is a bit trickier I admit but if you put it together without the screws you will see it’s quite straight forward. Things to watch are that the roof tiles are overhanging evenly so the screws penetrate the centre of the gable and mark the peak of the gable to know where the top edge of the tile goes.
It is also a good idea to screw the screws into the pre drilled holes so the points of the screws poke through a couple of mm before placing into position.
Hope this helps.
Thankyou. We will have a go.
