Just the one (and only) colony each year. In hindsight, I’m thinking it could possibly have been the cold, the damp or not enough food stores to keep them going (or any combination of the three). The hive was sited facing South, as I said in my earlier post, but when the wet wind blows in from the West it can bluster across the garden at a rate of knots, straight into the side of the hive. Anyway, lessons have been learned there and I’ll be sure to site the new hive in the lee of the house and also to be more generous in my feeding of the bees. Thinking back, I can’t remember taking the empty supers off the top and reducing the height for the Winter so that’s another schoolboy error that I can remedy. I don’t think the colonies were weakened by disease (or at least, not by varroa) since that was one thing I was very careful to monitor and deal with according to the advice available at the time.
Absolutely VITAL that you at least take the excluder out if you are leaving supers on.
Have you explored poly hives?
Yes, Dexter, I do mean extracting honey the old way, which was rather a messy process…
Sorry for the delay in replying - yes, I’ve looked at the poly hives, but I think adapting them for the Flow system is probably not a straightforward process. I’ll try with Langstroths for a season or two and see how it goes.
Hi please add me to the list I’m in West Yorkshire.
I have bought the full hive. Can’t wait to build it over winter.
Ideally I would like to catch a swarm to make strong start to the new season.
Alternatively can anyone recommend where I can purchase a Langstroth Nuc.
Also is it possible to insure your hive against vandalism or theft although unlikely, but I believe it can occur.
Hope the Aussie invention is as good as the hype !!! Go Aussie go !!!
Im in Lancashire and looking forward to start the Art of Beekeeping with my order of a full flow hive in February. Will be interested if anyone else in later has one on order to compare notes and experiences!
I’m in Wiltshire and being quite rural I’m worried my flow hive will do exactly the opposite and NOT flow when the oil seed rape blooms. I’m hoping the bees fill the central flow frame first then move sideways so I can rob one frame at a time. I’ve heard that the honey needs to be a certain specific gravity before i can be removed or it will ferment in the jars. Time will tell…
have just joined it, thank you. Looks like the UK have ordered quite a few
Yes, less than 20% water.
The bees will cap it when it is.
most are hybrid betwwen carniolian and macedonica. scattered areas still pure macedonica. situation in aegean islands is not standard, since some island keep ancient strain of bees, other are more commercial
I’ve seen mention on the forum the cost of import, so this may be useful for UK imports.
I think the Commodity code should be 8436290000
<<Other agricultural, horticultural, forestry, poultry-keeping or bee-keeping machinery, including germination plant fitted with mechanical or thermal equipment; poultry incubators and brooders>>
Rate of Duty 1.7%, onto which VAT is applied.
Hope this helps to ensure that if/when additional charges are made, they are correct.
Hi im in west yorkshire im new in bee keeping i order my flow frames last may and received them just over 3 weeks ago, 1 super with 4 frames and 1 super with 7 frames love them just carnt wait to put them to the test, but spoke to my bee keeper friend there might be a problem with oil seed rape he said the honey sets hard in frames so any suggestions?
There may be a problem but there might not. Nobody has tried it.
You can spin off OSR but you have to be quick to get those supers off so the same will apply to a Flow, surely.
It will set rock hard after you take it off whatever you do and it will have to be melted again. Or you could make soft set straight away.
Hi Jenbee, I’m also in Cornwall… got my flow hive in mid Feb, no bees in it yet, keen to share experiences, I’m a member of the WCBKA
Hello there, we are beside the Grand Union canal in central London, just a short distance west from St. Pancras Stn. We have put together our 6 frame box, with a few unexpected tricks along the way. Our 2 National hives have come through the winter; we may possibly find a swarm for the Honeyflow, or purchase a nuc on Langstroth frames.
There were a few hiccups with the construction:
illustrations showed the viewing window on different sides depending on the source of illustration,
drill holes didn’t conform to illustrations
we used 20 screws, one left - somewhat different to number listed in instructions - no matter
It would have been a very good idea if we had watched the video on the honeyflow site BEFORE we started but we did enjoy seeing it afterwards, and realizing it didn’t matter on which side of the hive the viewing window was placed.
Best of luck to you
Mann Lake in Kent have Langstroth boxes at good prices, especially if you collect them.