UK Flow keepers

Newbie bee keeper here, waiting for my Flow Hive. Just been offered a standard hive complete with bees by a friend, and umming and ahhing about taking it to get experience. Planning on doing a course later in the year.

@radallo I put a reply on the sell/swap/trade post.

Below is the requirements for selling honey in UK according to BBKA - I spoke to them as well.

Also speak with your local Environmental Health - registering the business and 2mm Straining is required - read attached .pdf below - hope that helps

http://www.bbka.org.uk/files/library/selling_honey-l010_1342859898.pdf

Hi all yorkshire beekeeper here, I am currently in my second year of beekeeping. First year was mainly buying a nucleus but I did it very late in year. Was risky.
I would advise getting your bees as soon as possible after winter so they can get strong for the following winter coming.

This year will be weā€™re I extract honey the traditional way for the first time.

Lol I hear you !

I was thinking same thing, there is loads of reasons why someone would suddenly realise they have made a mistake buying these hives with no experience. Iā€™ve heard of people making a whole hive in the shed to then realise, These bees can be scary when thereā€™s a full hive of em flying round your head.

I also am waiting for sum cheap flow hives on ebay. Thatā€™s if the flow frames are beneficial to me :smile:

Was thinking that since there are quite a few of us in the UK that have Flow Hives we all may need a chat spot too keep in touch. Knocked up a group site on Facebook if anyone is interested, hereā€™s the link.

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as far as spinning , crush or other extraction you are right and the legal issues come when labelling and also in relation to lab analyses there are different. I agree that flow combs are just another wayā€¦ but if I want to use them legally in Italy I have anyway to remove them from the supers and bring them to my authorised extraction roomā€¦ soā€¦ whereā€™s the plus?

no tap honey and no field extraction is allowed (spin or flowā€¦ doesnā€™t matter here)

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New to bee keeping but did accompany my son, on a course, a few years ago when he was looking into it.
Will be looking at going on a course to learn as much as possible, once Iā€™ve settled into my new job.
Iā€™m in Northampton

I went to the Solihull meeting tonight. They were quite good and we had a talk about inspecting the hives and doing checks. Could not do the actual bees as the weather was a bit cold and windy. I took care not to mention the ā€œFā€ word.

Looks like they have lost some bees over the winter. There was a swarm collected recently, so the bee year has kicked off.

A FB page just for us! Great ideaā€¦we are going to have such fun with the Flow Hiveā€¦I canā€™t wait. I will have to get a Langstroth to get readyā€¦next month I hopeā€¦may have a spare Queen to put in by then! The weather has been appalling so all plans have been delayed this spring.

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Hi Valli, Thanks for providing the info - much appreciated.

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Hey guys I went to my first beekeepers meeting today, it was good. I explained to the president and few of main players about the flow hive, a few already new about it.

They seemed to think England is too cold for any type of honey for it to work.
You might get a bit of honey if your lucky was there opinion.

Whatā€™s your thoughts on that guys ?

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Sarah from Kent here- great idea re UK user group but does it have to be Facebook as I donā€™t use it - can we have an offshoot UK group on this site?
Iā€™ve had lots negative comments but remain optimistic- Iā€™d love to hear from any other Kent beekeepers expecting their new hive early 2016!! I am a newbee but been to a weekend and a spring course and will attend the autumn course as well! I am not physically very fit at present and am hoping the FH system will be within my capabilities!?!?

Hello Sarah:
Welcome!
Go to the topic ā€œConnect with Localsā€. You will find more than one UK group.

HELLO! Iā€™m Colin from new forest area - my wife and I joined the local bee club, I said weā€™d ordered a flow hive and the head honcho was singularly unimpressed - he didnā€™t quite use the words learn to walk before you run but it was close. Anyway they want a full report so no pressure :wink:
Weā€™re both ā€œnewbeesā€ hope to get our first nuc in the spring 2016 after our flowhive arrives

Jenbee

Might I suggest you join the local group of the Cornwall Beekeepers Association. Look up their website for the nearest location to you. At this time of year, most of the meetings are outdoors - for instance my group in Liskeard meets twice a month at our apiary and we perform various manipulations (inspections, artificial swarms, comb change, etc.) which gives newbees the chance to handle bees (and occasionally get stung). There may be an opportunity to acquire bees via the CBKA members or at least get advice about where to buy locally bred bees. There is quite a strong movement in Cornwall towards having local bees rather than imported bees from Italy, Germany, or Greece, etc.
The first book I bought was The Haynes Bee Manual, which I found very easy to follow.
All the best with your Flow hive.
CVB