Hey everyone! This is my first post and I’m already so grateful to all of you who have been sharing your wisdom. I’ve read lots of great information already!
I live on the coast in North Carolina.
I don’t have any bees or equipment yet and do have a mentor. She thinks I’m crazy to want to start with the Flow Hive and so do the other local beekeepers. They have warned me to save my money and not get the Flow Hive. They say it’s going to complicate the learning curve. They also do not like the idea of plastic.
What are your thoughts? I’m getting it anyway but do not know how to respond to their comments.
What are your thoughts about the plastic/bees in the FlowHive?
Has anyone had experience with a particular type of electric fence and bears? We do have a large black bear in the neighborhood.
We currently have a corral with an electric fence. Do you think it would work to place the hives within the corral?
What are your favorite types of bees for calmness and honey?
Mine all think I’m crazy as well. One big factor I’m seeing is you have a mentor which is very good. I’ve read on here and have got a couple of other people I know that have flow frames or the full flow hive, that have not done enough reading indoor training.
One person actually thought all you need to do was set up both of your full flow hive boxes with your flow frames on top install Bee’s and walkway. That is certainly not the case.
In the US it appears that to brood boxes is the standard operation. Find out from your local beekeepers and/or mentor what they suggest.
The biggest thing I can tell you that I’ve experienced thus far is everything is exactly the same as a standard beekeeper the only thing difference and this is what you tell the people that are calling you crazy, is everything is exactly the same I’m just harvesting/robbing my honey a little differently than you are.
Good luck there’s a lot of information on here if I can how come and find those links for you to do some additional reading but it sounds like you’re on the right track with a mentor.
Hey Marty! You from Dallas? I am from Ft. Worth originally.
Thanks for the laugh! I needed a lighthearted chuckle after the intensity of meeting the beekeepers here! They’re all great people and everybody has their own opinions that’s for sure.
Since you’ve used both methods, which do you prefer for harvesting?
I have not used both methods I am 100% new beekeeper myself.
I’ve been wanting to get into beekeeping for years, but the harvesting aspects always turned me off. As relates to the flow 5 that’s what helped me finally pull the trigger and at least moving forward with the deeper education understanding and evaluation.
As I’ve told my local mentor and other people that have pooh-poohed the idea of the flow hive, I have learned so much and have appreciated the bees so much that even if I do not harvest any money at all, the education has been worth it. I will continue to be a beekeeper even if the flow hive does not work. I may never harvest any honey and just to keep bees if the flow hive does not work, I am still that interested in it.
He goes back to something I’ve heard someone say about religion a long long time ago, if I believe in God and try to do the right thing I will likely go to heaven. If I don’t believe in God and I don’t do the right thing, and if there is a God then guess what. which will be better off. So therefore am I really hurting anything by believing in God and trying to do the right thing
If I believe the flow hive may work and it does have I messed up something. The brood box is treated the exactly the same way, it’s only how the honey is harvested.
Just tell them you are getting an 8-Frame Langstroth hive (that is what a Flow hive is). The Flow super, as Marty says, is just a different method for harvesting. Everything else should be run exactly the way your local traditional beekeepers do things. For example, if they inspect the brood box weekly during nectar flow and swarm season, so should you. If they use two brood boxes (most do in the US), so should you. Their advice and support can be very useful, so it is good not to discard them as contacts. When you want advice about the Flow super, just come here - there is quite a bit of experience here now.
You start with just a single brood box. You need to decide whether you are going to install a nucleus (usually around 5 frames of brood, honey, pollen and bees, with a queen), or a package of bees (sort of artificial swarm). Packages are cheaper and more readily available, but take longer to get established. Anyhow, once your first brood box has fully drawn comb on every frame, and all frames are covered with bees and 80% filled, you need to add a second box. That would be a second brood box if that is the local practice. Again once it is 80% filled and covered with bees, you can consider adding your Flow super. That may not be this season, but if they nectar flow is good, you might be lucky.
I like Italians, but they are very greedy over winter - you need to feed them or leave adequate stores of honey, otherwise they will starve. They are extremely gentle. The other popular strain in my bee club is Carniolan. You have to manage those quite carefully in swarm season, as they seem to swarm more readily than other types, and if your hive swarms, you may be losing your nice queen and more than half of your bees - not good! However, they are hard-working and gentle.
Welcome to the Flow forum and keep asking questions, reading and learning. I think you will love beekeeping if you start it.
Dawn, you are amazing and I’m so grateful to all of the time you took to reply to my multiple questions. Thank you! I found a great video on the FlowHive YouTube channel about how to assemble to boxes right after I posted. Your detailed instructions for that really helped take it to the next level.
