Starting new with Beekeeping questions

Beekeeping - Basics
1

First off let me say this: If there are other topics that I have missed (a lot to read, so I can’t say I didn’t miss my answers) please point me in the direction.

Here are a couple quick facts about me:

  • I am going to be new to Beekeeping, but will be talking to an old Beekeeper locally very soon and then hopefully once I have talked to them I can find a few other locals on Facebook (my wife noticed someone that was posting on FB that they would be relocating bees from a local sugar factory so they weren’t exterminated so I figure that means I should be able to find some one)
  • I will probably be putting the bees in my garden since it is inside of a nice fence to avoid any risk of critters messing with the hive and near several sources of water, plus good plants and flowers.
  • It can be very hot summers, very cold winters and very wet springs and other years just average (climate here in Western Nebraska is crazy)
  • I plan to only harvest honey from my Flow Hive and hopefully as my hive grows I can split my hive and get a new Flow Hive kit and put them somewhere else on our land (70 acres)
  • I got the “Complete Full Flow Hive” coming

I am figuring I should have a regular hive or a few of them to keep for over winter since I don’t plan to harvest any non-Flow Hive frames (we aren’t setup for that). What type/size of hive should that be so the Flow Hive can sit directly on top? I figured I would get these frames and everything setup/bought before I got my Flow Hive and then would I want to introduce the bees into the standard hive or or the Flow Hive?

Looks like a farm and ranch store here (Bomgaars) carries a fare bit of Beekeeping materials. I didn’t get the name brand, but will check that out (they had a bunch of it on the center isles as you walked to the back of the store) and I know we can order bees from them (not sure on the NUC they come in - I will check).

Thanks in advance!

1 Like
2

Hi Techieg, the best hives for your purpose would be standard deep Langstroth hives. That is what the flow hives are designed for, while typing this I just remembered that the full flow hive comes in 8 frame boxes. So that’s one thing to consider. Good luck with everything, cheers

3

Hi Logan,
If you ordered the Complete Flow Hive then it will come as an 8-Frame Full Depth Langstroth Hive. So if you wish to get a compatible hive setup then go and buy the 8-Frame Full Depth boxes. All frames are standard as long as get Full Depth frames, its that simple. Don’t be put off that you need extraction equipment for non-Flow Hives, as there are many alternatives. By using foundationless frames you can harvest honeycomb from your hives or use the crush and strain method of extracting honey, otherwise another method is to uncap your honey frames (not Flow frames) using a large knife or comb scratcher and then let the honey drain by itself into a bucket.

1 Like
4

Cool deal. So I will go looking for a 8-Frame Full Depth Langstroth kit (think I saw a foundationless kit) along with some of the other common tools/suit. I am not put off per-say, and doing something like just collecting the comb sounds like a pretty good option or using a knife to let it drain sounds good. I just know we can end up with long winters here and don’t want to risk leaving too little for the bees my first time out. I would rather miss enjoying some honey than harm the bees. As I said I hope to get connections here locally and if so then I am sure they could come check out my self and help me, but I figure the more I learn now the better :smile:

P.S. My son is just 4 1/2 months old and I hope to get this all rolling with the bees so he can start to help as he grows up…since he will already have chickens, geese, and pheasants to work with.

2 Likes
5

I’m a NewBeek _ i found a group quite quickly
My bees are in my garden see Now officially a BeeKeeper! :D - #23 by Valli
We don’t get very hot Summers But can get -15 in Winter
I plan mainly to harvest from the Flow but if you join a group they will often lend extracting equipment
I have a complete flow coming as well

I have bought Langstroth 10’s because I could not find 8’s in UK

Hope this helps

1 Like
6

I will stop complaining about our 7 degree nights then, a typical winters day here is 18-20 degrees and the bees are still flying … don’t know how people and bees cope in those temps, its beyond my comprehension.

1 Like
7

Yeah usually winter is around the same here, but we can have weeks of -20 (before wind chill) and we can also get snow in July and 90s in December…the Midwest Nebraska, USA is sure a screwy climate.

1 Like