Hi all and apologies if this has been discussed before.
I have a Langstroth hive that I am finding hard to keep on top of due to disability so I purchased a Flo hive .
I have been painting the outside of the hive for weather protection with non toxic/harmful stain. when putting the hive back together I noticed there is no access for a waste collection board at the bottom of the hive.
The second thing I have noticed is regarding the Flo cells. I was given the long metal key along with the honey flow pipes but at the top of each cell front there is no key access, just the plastic cap then you can see the cells within so why the key?
The third is a question regarding the brood box. This has no frames, am I better purchasing frames for this or should I just let the bee’s get on with it?
Hi Kev, can you post some pics of what you see when you look for key access? There isn’t a tiny bar-shaped opening that the key would fit perfectly into, like a house or car key, but more like an extra space of the same width as the frame at the top of each one. The key goes in flat side down so the handle part is horizontal, and when it’s turned 45 degrees vertically it pushes the top frame surface down to move the cells apart.
Pics will also help confirm if you have a genuine Flow kit and not a knock-off. I’m wondering about this when you say there’s no waste collection board access - I’m not sure if you are missing parts or have a fake, or just aren’t sure what you’re looking at
About frames - definitely please do get them! You’ll need 8 or 10 deep Langstroth frames, and to do some reading and talking about pros and cons of foundationless vs. adding foundation when you’re first starting out.
If you have no frames supplied for the brood box, that’s a dead give-away of a fake flow hive. Also a bamboo queen excluder, as well as no waste collection tray.
