Keep on the research skills but we need drone diversity - by culling drones is not a good way to check on Verroa. The Queen lays drones to add genetic diversity - if you kill off all your drones - she will lay more. By stopping her from laying brood to lay drone, ultimately you are culling your own brood potential.
Verroa is not as bad as AFB or EFB. If you are not showing signs of Verroa all you are doing is killing off bee diversity
Letās not forget the virus that varroa carryā¦they cause quite a few syndromesā¦deformed wing virus for instance. So not a straightforward problem.
@Horsehillhoney I know what you are saying, but he is worried about a disease that Australia hasnāt even got - seems silly to cull drones to prove you havenāt got a disease that their ecosystem doesnāt have.
Iād be more worried about CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) from pesticides and monoculture crops, SHB (Small Hive Beetle) infestations
If he does return them can I have his place in line? lol 
Though there a plenty of people out there who take a very hands off approach to beekeeping. I have one such book and it makes very compelling arguments. But they are using a disease resistant, not so friendly European dark bee. But he does still inspect 2-3 times a year, so you would probably want to still invest in a suit etc.
There seems to be a technique and a system for everyone and they all think their way is the best way or only way. Iād say donāt do anything rash and keep reading and researching. You may find that in short order this may not be so daunting or intimidating and you will be glad you didnāt sell your flow.
Hi @samat3, please donāt be put off by the perceived maintenance in keeping bees, it really is not that much work and can be incredibly rewarding for you and your family. Yes, bees do sting but you only need to wear a veil, long sleeve shirt, jeans and gloves when inspecting and this is the only time a small number of them will become aggravated due to the need to protect their nest. The breeds today are very docile, so once you have selected a docile breed your backyard use will not change. And once a suitable site is chosen, the kids can play, dogs can run and bees will go about their business in collecting food for their brood. A local bee club is the way to go and they may even provide a mentor or beekeeper who will come and help with your hive. As for harvest, the videos are spot on. The price of the hive is seen as expensive but I can tell you its no different if you went out and bought a Warreā hive, and that does not include any extraction equipment. I see many families come on up to our bee club where the kids are the driving force, they love bees and it becomes a life long hobby for them. I hope we can persuade to persist and give it a go, you wonāt regret it.
Glad to have you onboard @sciencemaster, you are taking the right approach, its amazing how many old time beekeepers I speak with in the club who are quite neglectfull of their responsibilities as a beekeeper. Allowing beetle and disease to destroy their hives with the philosophy that the strongest survive. Unfortunately for the rest of us in the immediate vicinity it means we bear the brunt of their overrun diseases and pests. As for varroa, NSW is taking a pro-active role and the Dept of Primary Industries is now issuing free Sugar Shake Kits to beekeepers with the intention that we are all sentinels for pests and diseases coming in to the country. Varroa is a major concern but there is also a worry that we will get two other parasites (Braula and Tropilalaeps) from Asia that will add stress and complications to beekeeping. Not sure where you are located, but ask your local club about the new disease and pest monitoring program and request they have a session with club members to alert them for what to look for in their inspections. I have put together an information sheet for our local club members to help identify the three main parasites we need to keep a lookout on. I have appended them on to the Pests and Diseases Summary in this forum.
I think a lot of people are missing the point of this thread. @samat3 Feels he was misled by the Flow campaign video. He says his wife has no interest in keeping bees at the level required & he is out of town a lot. Thatās all fairly straight forward. Itās great that the Flow team will give him a refund minus 10%. What is the point in trying to talk someone into being a beekeeper when he has already stated he doesnāt want to be one?
Well I donāt think thay tried to mislead any one so u jumped the gun and wanted to have the new toys like the guy next door and now u have changed your mindā¦ Man up and take responsible for you actions.
Sheldon has an expression for this āWhat fresh hell is this???ā
I need to go look that one up
Problem is with things like Braula and Tropilalaeps - china sends everyone crap honey and all the junk that comes with it. The number of people coming through customs from Asia with contraband food items is causing this problem.
If people only understood why Australia is so Hot on Customs and Fines for bringing in potential harm on food, wood, flowers, seeds, meat - I donāt think the rest of the world appreciate the problems of having a country isolated from many pest and diseases and keeping it that way. With the travel of Verroa D, Small Hive Beetles, AFB, EFB I think the rest of the world are catching on as to why Australian Customs Department is so strict - But there are the majority of people out the have no-idea-what-so-ever and their ignorance causes problems for the rest of us who try to do the right thing.
Darwin had a - problem is he didnāt bank on Globalisation
There is some point of diminishing returns when it comes to the intensity of management of bee colonies. At one extreme there is never doing anything. When you do this some will die every winter. Some will swarm and end up queenless. Many will swarm and successfully raise a new queen. Gradually there will be more bees in the trees and less bees in your hives. At the other extreme you open them too often and disrupt them too much and they arenāt as productive as if you left them alone (as far as making honey) but maybe they donāt dwindle because at least you split them instead of letting them swarm and you stay on top of things. Somewhere in the middle (a very broad middle) you can disrupt them less but still keep them from swarming and make enough splits to make up losses. So I guess we are looking for that if we want to be sustainable or productive. If you just want some bees in your backyard, however, you can put them in a box and never pay attention. Eventually youāll have to buy some more bees, but mostly bees take care of themselves.
The best is probably a minimum of five times a year. You need to check them out in the spring and see how they are going. Raising brood in early spring can run them out of food quickly, so they may need to be fed. Some hives may have ended up queenless. The deadoutsā honey could be distributed to those that are light on stores rather than let the bees rob them out. Prime swarm season they should get checked at least once and be manipulated to avoid swarming. (I would open the brood nest) Just before the main flow you will need to pile on the supers. Sometime you will need to harvest and sometime you will need to make sure they all have enough stores for winter and get them set for winter. I often do both of those at the same time. Once cold has set in enough to get the bees in a cluster and out of the honey, I can harvest what they donāt need, give some to the ones that need it and take what is left over. Iād say once every two weeks is the maximum useful interventions. Other then when I was starting Iām pretty sure Iāve never done that.
Hi Samat,
I would be interested in buying your flow-set if you want to get rid of it.
I live in the Netherlands and am interested in starting with bees (and are aware it does need maintenance)
so please let me know,
kind regards,
Nicolien
Iām surprised this issue has taken so long to surface.
My experience with bees is zero but I could quickly see from the flow hive promotional material that a potential problem Stuart and Cedar would have was going to be managing all the brand new bee keepers buying their hives without the first clue of how to look after bees.
Watching the videos and reading their posts I saw their caveats and understood their explanations. I understood that there was always going to be a lot more to it than just setting the hive up and turning a tap some time later. The main reason I new that however was because of my experience with Aquaponics.
Aquaponics is rife with scheisters spruking ānewā āpatentedā āinnovativeā āsuperiorā ājust add fishā simple turn key backyard and even commercial systems. All too often people buys these systems and shortly thereafter they have dead fish. Often this is because the systems are crap but mostly its because the buyers are totally ignorant about what is involved in raising fish. Thousands of fish, tens of thousands of fish are killed every year purely through people not having the first clue about how to look after their fish.
Iāve seen the same thing with city people buying farms and not having a clue about how to look after cows, sheep or any livestock for that matter.
As I suspected as Iāve learnt more about keeping bees Iāve had my view confirmed that there is indeed a lot more to it than just setting the hive up and walking away. I commented to a number of my friends as the crowd funding campaigned rolled on million by million that Stuart and Cedars next challenge after sorting out their manufacturing operation was going to be educating and supporting hundreds of brand new unskilled bee keepers.
What I said at the time was that if they had the same professional approach as was apparent in their development process and marketing campaign they probably already had a plan. We have seen that in how they have set up this forum, hired some people to help them moderate it and direct conversations to support their customers.
There is still a long way to go with many more hives still to be delivered and stocked with bees and their owners coached through their first season but to me it seems they have things well in hand.
Maybe they could have been more reserved in their marketing campaign and maybe the only reason I new their would be more to bee keeping was because of my wider agricultural experience but I feel there was enough information to introduce people to the invention and to get them started on their own research. To say that they were misleading people is a bit strong.
Slight Adjustment there. Moderators are seconded and voluntary - I was invited to Mod
Said no successful company everā¦
It is a companyās job to sell their product and get people excited about it. It is then the peopleās job to decide if that product is right for them by doing research. What company have you ever heard of that gives people reasons not to buy their product? Also the ādifficultyā of keeping bees is very subjective. If you ask the veteran beekeepers on here they probably would say itās pretty easy for them, because they know what they are doing, what to look for, how often to look for it etc etc etc. Meanwhile a newbee will be completely overwhelmed and intimidated by the same prospect.
I think this is the main issue. I never recall any of the promotional videos or materials saying that you donāt have to be a beekeeper still. They are just offering a better way to extract the honey. The āno suiting upā and the ease and time savings etc was always in reference to the extraction process. I may have missed it but it never said anything about being easier or maintenance free way of keeping the bees. The bees will be in your care, not unlike a āpetā, it is your duty to make sure that any animals under your responsibility are cared for and tended to.
The crowd-funding process allows people to contact the creator of that item and ask questions, get clarifications etc. All these questions should have been asked up front, before the commitment was made. Unfortunately now itās too late, but this would be like buying an electric car and then after itās paid for complaining that no one told you it had to be chargedā¦
All of you? That would save them some money.
I think you will find that all the mods are a variety of different beeks. Iām new and couple of others are new to keeping - but there are experienced beeks here as well and friends of Cedar and Stu as I understand it.
If the others want to jump in and clarify that?
Also it helps to have Mods from around the world because of the differing time zones