I was gifted a Flow Hive 2 for Xmas and have become a new BEEK. I built the FH2 and painted the outside with one coat of water based primer, then two coats of water based outdoor latex paint. I added a vertical slatted rack just above the base and a Ceracell top feeder after I cut it down to fit under the FH2 roof. I live in Denver, Colorado, a semi-arid high-desert climate with an average of only 18 inches or rain per year, but the local beekeepers, none of which own Flow Hives, said I was going to have ventilation issues given the tight fitting non-ventilated roof. They suggested the vertical slatted rack to improve ventilation in the base but could not say what to do with roof other than use a standard Langstrom roof until using the flow hive super.
While we have a bit more rain this spring than normal, my FH2 has been a ventilation nightmare. After only 2 weeks I found water pooled on the inner cover and dripping from inside of the roof. The inner cover swelled and had to pried out of the roof. I literally fell apart. I rebuilt it with better quality glue and cross brad nailing in every corner and it has remained stable enough since. I had to router out the center hole because the wood plug or inner cover wood swelled so much it no longer fit. I then drilled two 1" holes adjacent to the center hole and covered them with rotating entrance reducers/screens. I consulted Flow Hive and followed their video for drilling three 1" holes in the roof eaves that I covered with wire mesh or rotating entrance reducers/screens.
It has been nearly 5 more weeks and I continue to find dampness on the inner cover (no wood center plug and both 1" vents open) directly above the Ceracell top feeder and condensation on the inside of the roof. The roof crown board is now warping and has split the paint on both sides as it obviously is taking on moisture and pulling away. I suspect the Flow Hive Australian araucaria wood may have not been properly dried.
I will be adding my Flow Super this weekend and removing Ceracell top feeder. I will plug the FH standard inner cover hole and leave he two 1" holes in the screened position. If I find too much condensation again, I will open the inner cover center hole and cover it with wire mesh.
I have a BroodMinder electronic monitoring system with a total hive scale + outside temp sensor, lower brood box temp sensor, and upper brood box temp + humidity sensor. The lower brood box is very steady at 96F degrees but the upper brood box varies significantly with the outside temp between 77 and 92F. Humidity stays in BroodMinder normal range of 50-75% so I simply canât see the reason for all the condensation under the roof. I am so desperate that I bought a conventional Langstroth hive cover that I now plan to use whenever the flow supers are not on the hive. I do plan to build or buy a vented quilt box for the winter along with a candy board, but there is only so much one can do with adding ventilation to the standard Flow Hive 2.
I had a similar issue so I built a moisture quilt. You can look it up on line, but it is effectively a shallow box filled with insulation. I built a wooden box about 3 inches deep and filled it with chicken âbeddingâ wood shavings. The underneath is fabric and i sealed it with a hardboard cover on top. I donât use the standard top cover and I have never had any condensation issues since then. In fact, put âmoisture quiltâ in this forumâs search function and you will see various options, including pictures
I can tell you what works for me down under. I use slatted racks, solid floors, reduced entrances, migratory lids & hive mats, with NO added ventilation. I have no trouble with excess moisture in any of my 60 odd hives.
Hi Lester, we made this video a few years ago showing the hive mat as well as a migratory lid.
The video doesnât show it, however the the rim of the lid sits on top of the super, not around it, as in a telescoping roof. The roof in the video shows vents which are sealed with propolis, which I keep that way all year. Plus the roofs are completely water tight. The bees propolize the lid where it joins to the super.
The roofs that I make myself are made without vents. The roofs have a tin lid, which is painted white.
Thank you Paul. I like vinyl mats for the reasons I stated on this thread.
I see & I love that you are eager to learn. I promote this video to anyone that will listen. The 20 odd minute video answers a lot of questions that new beekeepers might have, and more. The video on Youtube is âCity of the Beesâ. Another good video is âNova, Bees Tales from a Hiveâ.
Hi Jeff,
the bees are busy doing⌠bee stuff. Iâm observing them returning with various colour pollen, others with nothing so Iâm guessing nectar.
Am I right in thinking if Iâm seeing that then itâs an indication that all is functioning well in the colony?
Hi Paul, that isnât always an indication that all is functioning well in the hive. While it looks impressive, it still happens with a colony with a âlaying workerâ.
I like to lift the roof once a fortnight, which I donât always achieve. We need to be seeing the colony either growing or stagnating, depending on the time of season. If a colony goes backwards in population while weâre not approaching winter, I like to do a brood inspection to see whatâs going on. A colony might have swarmed, or gone queenless. We need to be aware of all the things that can go wrong. Learning to âread the broodâ is important, it helps us to recognise good or bad queen performance, the status of the comb, as well as identify various diseases.
I have been astounded over the years to discover that so-called beekeepers didnât know the difference between worker & drone comb.
Having said that, I reckon the first thing to learn is the difference between capped brood & capped honey, followed by the difference between worker & drone comb. After that learn to identify healthy brood, vs unhealthy brood.
Thanks Jeff. Yep I have no idea at all at the moment. The nuc only went ina few days ago so Iâm going to give them a couple of weeks to establish. I did have a look through the inspection hole in the cover underneath the roof yesterday. There seemed to be plenty of activity.
Itâs all happening here @JeffH Just did my first inspection since installing the nuc 11 days ago. The bes have started to draw comb on each of the frames either side of the installed 5 nuc frames.
I inspected all the frames, did not see the queen but she would have been hard to spot to my inexperienced eyes. No queen cups. And I did identify honey and brood (I think) but I donât know enough to spot eggs or larvae yet. I was just happy to have successfully got in and inspected all of the frames.
No SHB but about 25 in the oil tray.
A lot more activity out the front of the hive last couple of days and yesterday I witnessed a mass orientation flight event for the first time.
Should I give it a couple of weeks before I inspect again?
Cheers and thanks Jeff.
Hi & well done Paul. Yes Paul, give it a couple of more weeks before the next inspection.
Just a little tip while Iâm thinking. If youâre inspecting during nice weather & the bees are happy, you could spend a bit more time looking & becoming familiar with whatâs on the frames. Sometimes itâs hard to spot eggs in the shade. You need to get sunlight in the cells to be able to spot eggs. Also it helps to be able to look in the areas that eggs are likely to be. For example: sometimes youâll see sealed brood in the middle of the comb, with adjacent cells at the point of getting sealed. Then youâll see the tapering down of the grub sizes to almost nothing. If those cell are empty, they are the ones to look closely at for eggs. Anyway, if weâre seeing what I just described, without seeing eggs, we can be almost certain that the queen is there somewhere.
The Australian Beekeeping manual has been an invaluable resource for me and my interest this far. Together with youtube vids and advice here. It all adds up.
Take pictures of your frames and post them here and people can offer thier advice and experience. We all become better for the raised questions and resulting answers.
thare all so a book for beginners by a beekeeping vetton beekeeper who started as a hobbyest beekepper who became a commersal beekeeper 60 years and than retierd to be a hobbyest beekeeper agian Stan's Bee Book (S Taylor)
Transferred nuc 8 weeks ago (5. frame). Checked after 2 weeks⌠not much happening.
Now, 6 weeks later, population seems to have increased. Been trapping numerous hive beetles in the bottom tray (oil filled).
Might be time to have a look?
