What is the FH 2 ( brood frames ) compared model here in Italy?

A package of bees is a ventilated box with a certain weight of bees in it. They are made by shaking nurse bees from strong hives into the container on a scale. They keep shaking until the desired weight is reached, usually 1 to 1.5kg of bees. :honeybee: As a bee weighs about 0.1 grams, a package will contain 10,000 to 15,000 bees or more. That is plenty of bees to start a new hive, they just need a mated queen and a nice box.

@fffffred already gave you a nice link to a video on installing package bees. In my experience, it is unusual to get honey from a package (or a nucleus) in temperate climates in the first year. I did get some from a package last year, but we had a very good spring, and I gave the package fully drawn comb from another hive to give them a headstart. You will need to let them build up their brood box, and then the second brood box before adding any supers.

Traditional beekeepers are always suspicious of new technology. You should be fine in northern Italy with a Flow hive. Many people in the UK are successful with them. It is true that polystyrene hives have some advantages when the winters are long and cold, but they are not essential, and you can add foam insulation around the outside of the hive for winter if you want. Lots of people do that.

I think you are perhaps getting overwhelmed and confused with lots of new information. This is normal when you start a new hobby. :blush: I think you will do fine with your Flow hive. If you wanted to try a traditional hive too, then make the second one traditional. However, I would suggest that you buy a Langstroth hive as the traditional hive, as the wood frames from the Flow hive will fit that. Langstroth hives are available in Europe, you just have to ask around until you find a supplier. In the UK, Thorne beekeeping supplies sells them, but there will be places in Italy too. Standard Langstroths are much cheaper than Flow hives.

Now take a deep breath and relax. You can do this! It isn’t that hard, but it isn’t easy either. However, it is a fascinating and rewarding hobby, and you will do it very well. :wink:

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@Dawn_SD thank you so much… well I will take a deep breath…and wait and see what will happen. Flow has just send me info that my 2° brood box will arrive end next week. Have a nice weekend ! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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@fffffred thank you so much for the link… I did look at the film a few times…and saved the link on my pc…
Question… Why did you write me to …
1° have them fill up the first brood box
2° have them fill up the 2° brood box before putting the supers…?
I don’t understand… I tough that i needed one brood box to be filled up…
( Thank God i did order a 2° brood box ( without knowing this ) Flo just wrote me today that it is on the road and will arrive next week!
Thank for all info. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :honeybee:

Because a weak hive is always a target for pests, diseases and robber bees. I will explain a bit below. :blush:

You always want to have as many bees in a hive as possible. I have some rules for expanding a new hive. They are very simple. They are based on bee biology, which makes it much easier for the bees to work with us. Start your hive with one box. For a package, an 8 frame hive is fine. Then apply these rules when you are thinking about adding more boxes to the existing hive:

  1. Every frame has comb which is fully drawn
  2. Every frame is 80% full of honey, pollen or brood
  3. Every frame is completely covered with bees

Why these rules? Because you need enough bees to defend (pests and invaders), use (build wax and forage) and heat (for the baby bees) the hive. If you expand too quickly, they won’t have enough bees to do all of these things.

You might find it useful to take a look at the lessons on www.thebeekeeper.org. Some beginner concepts are discussed there. Although you have to pay a bit for it, it is like having a reliable mentor available. Just a thought. :wink:

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Thank you dear, all your info are very important to me and YES… I am quite worried about all that is going on around me…
Just to let you know my new brood :honeybee: box that I ordered from Flo will arrive next week… so at least I have it on hand when needed…

I followed your advice and enrolled myself into the on line "The beekeeper.org " course for new beekeepers this morning. I will have to go truth the lesson quite a few time as my English is elementary so all therms are new to me and don’t understand the meaning of them… I need to go into the translation link all the time… that is quite a pain… but… I will try my best.
( and as it is… :woman_facepalming: I have trouble remembering them in Italian ) :rofl: :rofl: but this will be resolve as I am taking a basic beekeeper course now…
I am copying the important info on my pc so that I have them on hand.
Have a nice weekend and thank you again for spending time to give me advise !. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :honeybee: :honeybee:

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Look at this article that I have found in Science Magazine regading bees…

I feel for you Helene, it all seems very confusing to begin with and you are doing the right thing in doing your course and finding other bee keepers in your area. Just take your time and soak up all the help that is available to you. Don’t stress over your English, it isn’t perfect but even I can understand what your meaning. :smile: :smile:
When I started out bee keeping I had a great mentor but when he wasn’t available I was feeling I doubted everything I decided was going to be wrong, it is just about being confident enough to work out what is best for the bees – and they are very forgiving anyhow.
Cheers

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Ciao Peter… well, we can make a deal with my English language …if you are a good friend… you can help me out and write me in italian to make my life easier… ha ha :rofl: . Lots of english terms are so strange to me so I need to look them up on the translator… but is ok…
As you know I am doing the basic course on Tuesday every week and today I enrolled myself into the on line beekeepers course with Flo, so I hope to take some of my worries away…
I will keep you up to date and surely I will have other questions for you as I go along…
Wish you a nice weekend, and thank you again for your help.
:smiling_face_with_three_hearts: :honeybee:

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Peter, what do you think on the Science article above ?

We don’t have Varroa in Australia yet so it doesn’t really relate to bee keeping here. On principle I’m against anything to do with GM, There is so much that the scientists that work for multi national companies don’t disclose or can’t answer. To my thinking natural is best and if we (humans) need to play with nature then there is something very wrong. But that is just my opinion.
Cheers

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Hi all
i just wanted to ask if you managed to convert OK? I have 2 flow hives but when I went to discuss buying my bees i was told that they ONLY use Dadant Blatt in my region, and I know that, due to disease, no one is allowed to move bees between regions this spring. They are very traditional (like your region sound!) and I dare not even mention the Flow Hive until I can prove it works well…

So I have bought a Dadant for this year until I understand what I am doing - but I am hoping to add the Flow frames onto the brood box if that can work?
Or I was thinking about placing some Langstroth frames into the Dadant alongside the Dadant frames - to be filled and then which I can move later into the Langstroth? I am a beginner so apologies if that is a stupid idea!
So I was wondering what method you decided on?

Thanks very much

Annabelle

I am so glad I found this discussion on the forum. I am in Italy and I had no idea about the hives, so

Gday Peter, where are you located in Australia? I live in Mildura,VIC but i would love to visit someone in whole SA or VIC who has a flow hive, i mainly need to see the sizesof it, external, internal etc.
I will return to Italy and i would love to start the flow hives there but i am a bit worried to struggle with the matching with the dadant blant…

please let me know

cheers

ALessio