@Valli thanks very much for beeing so active on flow. I am a newbee and learning a lot! I always wanted to get into beekeeping as a hobby as I did it at high school with the school club. I couldn’t be bothered with traditional hives - because I didnt want to buy all the expensive equipment. Finally the flow was produced and i bought mine in June last year (founding member), it arrived end of March. I have built it and am now waiting on my pure breed italian lingurian bee nuc from KI, South Australia. Cant wait!!!
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So jealous good luck
@Valli where i will be keeping my new flow and pure breed nuc i know there are wild bees, does anyone know if i need to control (by control i mean capture and relocate) the wild european bees so they dont attack my nuc or worse push them out of their new home? There are a few hives that have a nice home in a chimney, old tree, container etc and have been establised homes for 5years or so
@jamesp the only way you can prevent other bees attacking your hive is keep it strong and healthy - the rest is pretty much up to mother nature and she has been known to quite a witch!
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I guess a nucleous is no match for a full swarm?
Both a Nuc and a Swarm will not be to full numbers - keep the bees in the nuc/ hive you put them in with a small entrance to defend and they will have half a chance. Feed inside the hive and let their numbers build up - when are you getting the Nuc? September? I’d have thought they are over wintering presently
I was talking to a friend the other day about this topic of African bees. He had them one time and he said they were so vicious that when you drove up to the bee yard gate you already had to be suited up as the bees would be attacking the windshield of his truck and the colony was 300 yards away. He also said that they will cling to your suit and veil so thickly that sometimes you can’t even see. At any rate he got rid of them. That was down in Texas.
That’s crazy… absolutely crazy. My bees are on my suit for maybe 50 feet and there’s like 5 lol.
Thats why there are so many feeds about making a smaller enterance. I will do that to make sure they have a smaller area to defend. I guess helps keep them warm ovee winter too… I should be getting the nuc in the next couple of months- i know bad time of year for pollen. Have lavender flowering right now. Definately have to feed them, do you use honey from the supermarket for the bees?
NEVER!! it could contain AFB, EFB or other spores or toxins, some supermarket honey is not pure honey and may have antibiotics or other undesirables in the mix, could give your bees dysentery (Nosema) or be full of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) if over heated
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NO, that is an eye opener thanks for that Valli info.