Hello, I’m waiting on my flow hive but I do have a langstroth that has been buzzing here since November. I’m a member of backyard beekeeping and feel your pain but it’s a minority of grumps out there and most people are just curious and willing to hang back and see how it goes I think. I’m in a local bee club and they’re not unsupportive to my face hehe. Would happily join a flow hive NZ group or if there isn’t one I’ll start one 
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G’day Friends! My flow frames just showed up. Very excited about adding them to our hive! This is my first full season with bees. I’m on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula north of Auckland. The honey has been flowing here for a couple of months already. This photo was taken 25th October 2015. It was our first harvest of honey and sooo tasty and satisfiying to be eating locally produced, unprocessed honey!
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Nice frame of honey.
I can smell the summer in that 
If anyone is interested in also joining an NZ flow hive Facebook group one has been formed. It’s a closed group only for those who have flow hives or have ordered https://www.facebook.com/groups/1730988620465827/
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Hi all. Very nice to follow the forum and have already joined the FB page. I hope to learn lots about other’s experiences, and if I can be of any help, just yell. I have experience keeping bees, we build, manage and sell Top Bar hives, and am currently doing the Agribusiness beekeeping course Level 3, but now is carried by Taratahi in my area (BoP). So I have now 2 Langstroth hives to expand my knowledge of bees and different ways of looking after them. Recently started having a play with a Flow hive from a customer, I am frantically reading more and more. Every hive is different, even if you kept bees in only one style of hive 
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HI All I am in Raglan and my flow hive turned up this week, we began putting it together yesterday, exciting. This is my first season beekeeping, I am doing a course through Taratahi tech, and am a member of the local Waingaroa beekeeping group and Waikato beekeepers. Almost everyone I talk to is excited to see how the flow hive works, I have 2 other hives which are doing well. Will join the FB group.
Cathryn
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Hi Dee,
I am also on the Whangaparaoa and have ordered a Flow Hive as we have a huge manuka filled section and wondered where you did your course? Is there one up our way? Thanks Sandi
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Gday Sandi,
I’m not sure about actual courses as such on the coast, but I’ve found the people at the club: https://rodneybeekeepersclub.co.nz, very helpful and willing to share their knowledge.
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Very excited! Just finished putting my flow hive together. Living in Ohoka and am half way though the Telford beekeeping course. I’m guessing it’ll be spring before I can get set up with bees.
Karen
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Frames and box finally arrived. Was very excited to receive them, even though they were rather behind time. I missed out on trying it out for the honey flow, but will have plenty of time for the oil to harden up over the winter…
The down side was that the box had been made badly and the box joints didn’t match up, so I couldn’t construct my honey super. Anyhoo, the nice people at Flow are replacing the bits that don’t work, so hopefully I’ll get it together soon!
Just joined FB group.
Hello all, My Flow Hive arrived last month and I have finally put it together. I work FIFO back to Perth from Whangarei so I get a week to get things done before I go back to work, so this week was spent putting it together. I am busy reading the forum posts to make sure I have everything covered before I start. The wife will take care of the bees when we get started, which will probably after the winter. I have joined the FB page, just waiting for acceptance.
Any advice on placement of Flowhive. I have a lake on the property so I was going to place it under a Totara tree on the lakes edge away from the wife’s ride on mower circuit.
Can anyone advise if you can do an on-line beekeeping course. I figure I can do the theory while I am away working and hopefully any practical on my week off with my own bees. I have a brother who is a beekeeper but I don’t know how he will take to a Flowhive.
Sounds like you have a cool property @ariki
Just make sure you give it plenty of sun to keep them nice n warm and will have longer days collecting nectar (they don’t really fly unless it is over 12 degrees). Some sort of wind break on the south side is quite a good idea down here in CHCH, it also means you can get into the hive on windy days when it has a bit of shelter.
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Very interesting to see all the new Beekeepers who have signed up for flow hives in NZ. I was all for the idea but couldn’t bear the thought of having to burn it in the event of AFB being detected. This is one of the NZ specific rules that is unique to our way of beekeeping here. I’d still be very keen to hear from people with personal experience of flow hives though as they still appeal. Not sure how they’d get on with manuka flow any feedback?
For those wanting NZ specific beekeeping feedback and advice in general I’d highly recommend the NZ Beekeepers website www.nzbees.net
The flowhives frames are made of plastic, not wood and as such would not be safe to burn. In the event of foulbrood it would be possible sterilize the frames.
How that all would be reconciled with regulations designed to deal with wooden hive pieces I don’t know…
Unfortunately your answer is why I recommended a New Zealand resource to local beekeepers at www.nzbees.net Following international based methods could leave an inexperienced hobbyist open to prosecution.
To inspect hives for disease, a beekeeper will undergo training and agree a disease workplan that forms part of an agreement called a Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement (DECA) which is issued by Assure Quality. A DECA holder has to inspect hives for disease at least twice a year. I spoke to one of the Approved Person (AP1) that covers our region for Assure Quality last week about whether there are any known DECA signed off to allow alternatives to burning for plastic equipment. His answer was that he knows of none in circulation currently. This means that it is a legal requirement to burn hives with AFB in New Zealand and sterilisation of plastic hive ware is not an accepted legal practice. NZ actively prosecutes beekeepers for breach of DECA agreements and routinely cancels DECA for those that breach the requirements. In the last 3 years I’ve had 2 national disease screens of my hives by Assure Quality AP2 inspectors, due to my relatively close location to a major port.
Shame that you can’t irradiate in New Zealand. It seems that Australia accepts irradiation, as the Flow frames have been tested with repeated doses of radiation.
Not much anyone can do when bureaucratic nonsense runs into common sense.
The bureaucrat usually takes the win.
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I’m doing a correspondence course through Telford (Lincoln) university.