Hi there
Looking for Flowhive beekeeper close to Springwood/Daisy Hill Brisbane area to help check my brood.
I purchased my Flowhive in March 2017. My girls thrive in my suburban back yard. They have been very content and productive since then.
I am looking for someone with Flowhive bee-keeping knowledge and a little strength to assist me to check the brood box.
Kind regards
Kath Smith
Hi Kath,
I’m an even newer keeper (have flow hive, waiting on bees). I’m in the Runcorn area.
Despite lots and lots of reading it’s all theory to me so far. Thanks to COVID our local beekeeping group aren’t meeting much so not much opportunity to see/interact with a live hive.
I’m keen to learn any tips or problems you’ve run into in the first couple of years. Have you had to deal with a split or swarm? My two biggest concerns!
Cheers,
Geoff
Hi team,
Northern Brisbane here (Banyo)
I’ve added my nuc in the past two months and just keeping an eye on my hive over my morning coffee, trying to limit myself to six-weekly inspections over winter.
Keen to learn as much as possible from everyone here.
Nathan
Welcome to the club Nathan 
there’s a lot of FH’s around Brissie.
Hope your nuc settles in well although I wonder if it’s a bit early to move them into a full size brood box this time of year… might struggle to keep it warm.
Maybe a topic for the main chat with more experienced keepers than me.
Hi Geoff, I presently have about 8 or 9 nucs occupying normal brood boxes. Most of them are only a little over 2 full frames of bees. I place them on one side of the box flanked by empty frames, which offers a little bit of insulation. I cover them with a hive mat which is supported by an empty frame on the empty side of the box. I’ve also greatly reduced the entrances. Late next month I’ll start donating the nucs a frame of sealed & emerging brood from out of the hives I want to prevent from swarming. I identified 2 of those hives yesterday while robbing honey.
Amazing. You’re making me think I should split my hive sooner than I had planned.
It all depends on how strong the colony is Geoff. I find that if a colony fills out the brood as well as the honey super, they’ll start preparing to swarm late in July, which is a month after the solstice. Out of the 12 hives I robbed yesterday, 2 of them had the honey supers full of bees. I’ll continue to keep the honey supers less than full of bees right through the spring. Most of my honey frames are fully drawn with worker comb. They’re the ones I’ll replace the brood frames with, after extracting the honey, while at the same time I’ll allow the bees to draw fresh comb in the honey supers.