Hi Trish, I’m at Buderim. There’s a bit of a honey flow happening where my bees are at Wise’s Rd. North Buderim & also at Kuluin. There’s lots of gum trees in bud. Also you may have noticed some Golden Pendas in bloom while driving around. Honey bees, as well as native bees absolutely love them. I’m expecting the honey flow to continue.
I find that 2 Besser blocks is sufficient height to keep hives out of reach of toads.
Welcome to the coast, good luck with your bees, cheers
Thank you. I’m so excited to back in the bee community. We have lots of mellauka flowering nearby & the bees returning with lots of pollen. I just hope there is enough vegetation nearby to sustain them. Our hive looks like it’s going strong and are quite placid!
I feel the bees are a bit small though.
I see a couple at the entrance just sitting their buzzing their wings a lot. Do you know why this is
Do you know Colin who is a similar address to you. He has bees. A Sth African
You’re welcome. The bees sitting at the entrance are probably guard bees. The buzzing may have something to do with airflow in the hive. It starts at the entrance, then continues right through the hive with lots of bees co-operating with each other to direct the air exactly where they want it to go. In at one side of the entrance & out at the other side. This happens right through the night as a means of de-watering the honey as well as temperature control.
I’m pretty sure it’s the same Colin who got some colonies from me a couple of years ago. He lives near my main bee site at N. Buderim.
There are other bee keepers here on the Sunshine Coast, @JeffH at Buderim, @Mrsmcnic and me at Coolum Beach, Jeff and I would be handy for info and both been long time bee keepers if you feel you have a problem. Your bees were drawn to the light in probably the early morning or towards sunset, it might be an idea if that light is used a lot to make a shield so it doesn’t shine towards the hive.
Nice 
I like it. What is on top of the block and beneath the hive?. Love the blue colored roof and the art work
I’m curious too. It’s so clean 
Aww, what a cutie! And the youngster is pretty sweet too!! 
Yes, he is pretty sweet, too! He loves going out to see the bees. He keeps asking to pet them. Haha. He loves animals and talks to them in this slightly high pitched, “hi little baby, you are so cute,” melts my heart… I have decided i am keeping that little boy (although his parents don’t know that yet so don’t tell them!)
It is an old piece of Corian countertop.
My husband is a contractor so we used an old Corian countertop he took out of a kitchen.
That is pretty awesome!
Thanks! I have been getting some pooling of water on top though. My husband, being the carpenter he is, had to make sure it was perfectly level, which doesn’t allow for rain water to run off. Will need to shim up the front so the water will run off the back. I was very happy with how the stencils turned out. Was so worried I would ruin my new Flow!!
If you are talking about pooling of water on the top of a flat roof it won’t do any harm. Having the hive level it is important that the hive is not tilted sideways but a few degrees of tilt from front to the rear is ok, Being a flow hive you will need that tilt to aid in the honey extraction.
Cheers, Peter
True for the roof, but the pooling concern was for the piece of Corian that @mclaughlin26 has as a base for the hive in the original picture. Best to give it a slight incline or maybe some feet for the bottom board.
I love, love, love the stencils. I did not have the nerve to decorate mine but I really wanted to… I only have one hive but this king about getting a second. Maybe I will decorate that one
Thanks!! I practiced painting the stencils on scrap wood before taking the plunge on my hive. Already thinking about what to put on another hive. 
