I am now a Beekeeper!!

[dickymint]

Well I've hit the button and have this pre-ordered for late March delivery...............



I looked at their National Flow Super with a view to modifying my WBC brood box - it's doable and would solve the puzzle of not disappointing Wifey as regards the birthday present. But at the end of the day it's too much of a faf and anyway I don't like compromise. So the plan at the moment is to run both and put up with them not being compatible as regards swapping bits.

Meanwhile for any doubters (there are many on the course I'm taking ) I've discovered that the Flow Frames are easily taken apart for cleaning/maintenance ..............

https://youtu.be/HAzm7bR2IDo

Can also be put in the dishwasher

[dickymint]

rxe said:

Hmmm. Try putting something covered with beeswax and propolis in the dishwasher.....

Hence my rofl

However I'm bound to try it at some stage Dishwasher aside though don't you agree that the fact that the main objection seems to be due to the system "clogging up" It's a big plus that the frames can be easily stripped down and cleaned?

How many people on here were aware of this I wonder? What i do know is that the mentors for the group i'm in have little to no experience of Flow. Their objections are based on bias confirmation and group think that (so far) can be overcome.

[dickymint]

I've not seen Propolis or indeed read much on it. Do they make/use it just to fill gaps? Anybody found a way to soften/remove it easily?

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

dickymint said:

Hence my rofl

However I'm bound to try it at some stage Dishwasher aside though don't you agree that the fact that the main objection seems to be due to the system "clogging up" It's a big plus that the frames can be easily stripped down and cleaned?

How many people on here were aware of this I wonder? What i do know is that the mentors for the group i'm in have little to no experience of Flow. Their objections are based on bias confirmation and group think that (so far) can be overcome.

I wasn’t aware but it’s irrelevant - if you lose your entire honey harvest into the dishwasher what’s the point? Normal frames need no maintenance or cleaning (by humans) normally so it’s hardly a step forward.

I admire you wanting to do things differently and embracing advances and technology but dismissing the opinions of people with experience as confirmation bias and groupthink vs your own position of zero experience is bold! I wish you well though and will be happy to be proven wrong!

Did you buy some extra flow supers?
And are you aware that strong colonies will partially fill the first super with pollen, which definitely doesn’t flow?

Many thanks, i truly appreciate your comments and concerns and yes I fully understand i have no practical experience. My thinking is to maybe use a shallow super (think that's the right term) before the Flow super goes on? I don't yet know about timescales etc. (let alone what bees do and when) but i don't expect to have any bees until late summer so it's a question of getting the nuc established and safe through to next spring?

As i've said there will be the WBC hive to establish at the same time.

[dickymint]

They’ve given me bloody homework at my age FFS .....



Gotta paint it, make six frames with foundation and take it back

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

Jambo85 said:

dickymint said:

Many thanks, i truly appreciate your comments and concerns and yes I fully understand i have no practical experience. My thinking is to maybe use a shallow super (think that's the right term) before the Flow super goes on? I don't yet know about timescales etc. (let alone what bees do and when) but i don't expect to have any bees until late summer so it's a question of getting the nuc established and safe through to next spring?

As i've said there will be the WBC hive to establish at the same time.

True if getting bees late summer then supers are unlikely to be an issue for 2020!

And good luck with the homework. If you think you're going to do this on any scale then a £20 nail gun is a good investment!

Agreed on the nailer but the Plaslode was overkill This manual stapler and Brad Pinner is perfect.....



First batch of 50 complete - got the hang of it and got it down to Roger Bannister sub 4 mins...

[dickymint]

^^^ Gwent Beekeepers (guys i'm doing the course with) are building a new apiary and Bee Centre on land they've purchased near where I live and they've decided to change every frame for their hives. I'm after Brownie points

[dickymint]

Well Covid has scuppered any chance of visiting the apiary for any hands on training which means little chance of getting a nuc from them (understandable but annoying) so i've bitten the bullet and sourced a 6 frame nuc and queen that will be with me tomorrow morning. Meanwhile I've readied my garden for their arrival.......................





The nuc is for the WBC hive that hopefully be split to populate the FlowHive.

Edited by dickymint on Thursday 14th May 11:40

[dickymint]

Poxy PH photo uploader so here's a quick vid of my setup..........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VayAPsOFMpc

[dickymint]

Iwantafusca said:

Have seen some new beehives places near me (Balbeggie) and it made me curious as to how you would describe the honey if selling? Ie is it organic if the bees are using rape fields or similar?

Was having a debate about this a few days ago so I did some research and as far as can tell UK honey cannot be classed as Organic even if you have hives in a field well within the bees max flying distance - nobody (that I could find) sells UK produced Organic honey it’s all imported.

Edit: best you could describe it is 100% raw honey as in not heat treated.

Edited by dickymint on Thursday 14th May 13:10

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

Great stuff! Is the flow high at the front or is it just the photo? Get them level if you can.

Are you planning to split the colony this year? Depends on a lot of things but probably the most successful way would be to start a new nuc from it.

Well spotted but yes it is higher at the front. They are designed that way for the honey to “flow” out of the super. The base has a spirit level built into it that when the bubble is centralised it’s actually at 4 to 5 degrees slope front to back. There is another built in level for side to side to set to ‘proper’ level.

The vid shows it better that they are side by side.

Yes I’m hoping to get split to overwinter for next Spring for the Flowhive. As long as I can get one strong colony through the winter is main priority though.

[dickymint]

Finally after 40 months it really is official...
https://youtu.be/uiC_BRn3Xs8

Don’t mind saying there’s a distinct whiff of chopped onions in my garden

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

Great stuff. Chopped onions???

Hope you helped those stranded bees out of the nuc

Yep they got in eventually but not without my first mini panic as a Beeminder! The guy that provided me with the nuc and kindly guided me through the install had to leave at this point. It was then i noticed a large "beard" of bees around the side and on closer inspection were actually getting in between two of the lifts. I took the lid back off and there was a hundred or so in the void with no access to the brood box Smoked the outside beard and brushed them off and they still kept going for it - turned out the second lift wasn't seated properly so easy fix. Lesson learned stay calm, think it through and be confident.

Day two: Discovered i get up earlier than Bees

Oh the onions? After wanting to do this for at least 30 years i got a tad overwhelmed by it all

[dickymint]

Nimby said:

dickymint said:

Day two ...

That long? They'll be preparing to swarm !

Hope so, would be nice to get the FlowHive up and running this season

[dickymint]

Wifeys first experience up close to Bees............and brakes the first rule i taught her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kpRTS4mgD0

[dickymint]

So a week after they were hived I did my first ever inspection. Now just to recap I have never handled bees before so apart from Youtube and a handful of classroom lessons i'd no idea what to expect. My plan was to look for signs that the Queen was laying (didn't matter if i saw her or not) and had they expanded and drawn out the new frames.

Here's a prelim video and sarcy commentary shot by Wifey ........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlIAiKKAQs&t=...

And one of my chest camera vid - can you spot the Queen? Can't believe i didn't..............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZabaWD9AaM

Looking back on all the videos we took (i wont bore you with them all) I felt quite proud of getting this far on my own even though i spotted loads of errors i made. My two concerns are the lack of expansion to new frames and lack of nectar stored.

I have a cunning plan though!

[dickymint]

Nimby said:

I've never seen inside a WBC hive - were you just looking at a super? There' didn't seem to be many bees for a brood box.

First vid is looking at the top super/shallow (but it's not actually a super as there's no Queen excluder in place). It's basically set up as a "brood and a half" as i'd like them to expand into a strong colony as quick as they can with the hope to split them into two and put one lot into the FlowHive. I've no plan to take honey for myself this year.

A WBC is exactly the same, more or less, as a National - it just has outer lifts that give extra insulation.

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

dickymint said:

So a week after they were hived I did my first ever inspection. Now just to recap I have never handled bees before so apart from Youtube and a handful of classroom lessons i'd no idea what to expect. My plan was to look for signs that the Queen was laying (didn't matter if i saw her or not) and had they expanded and drawn out the new frames.

Here's a prelim video and sarcy commentary shot by Wifey ........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlIAiKKAQs&t=...

And one of my chest camera vid - can you spot the Queen? Can't believe i didn't..............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZabaWD9AaM

Looking back on all the videos we took (i wont bore you with them all) I felt quite proud of getting this far on my own even though i spotted loads of errors i made. My two concerns are the lack of expansion to new frames and lack of nectar stored.

I have a cunning plan though!

Nice one dicky, enjoyable isn't it How you missed the queen is beyond me too 90% of the time she'll be on the dark side of the frame so look there first, although you've separated all the frames it looks like so that doesn't mean much. You soon won't be able to do that so practice gently moving frames around with only the dummy removed from the box.

I have some quick pointers for you which I hope you'll find helpful:
1. As far as I can tell on the video the queen has her wings intact - I'm a great believer in clipping queens particularly if you live in a built up area. Combined with other swarm prevention/control it will greatly reduce the chances of a prime swarming ending up in a neighbour's chimney.
2.They don't need that super, they will likely do better in the long run if you remove it for another couple of weeks until some more brood has emerged, all it is doing now is losing heat.
3. You're right they have bugger all stores.
4. Bees do not naturally expand outwards, especially quite a small number of bees (sorry!) in the middle of a big box, so no surprise that the new frames have not been drawn.
5. What is frame no. 9?? Does it have plywood in the frame!?

They don't have much of a foraging force and drawing and laying up 5 new frames of foundation is a big ask for a small colony.

To address 3 and 4 I suggest you feed them some 1:1 syrup (1kg syrup to 1L water) and see what they do. Also - be careful doing this if it's going to be cold (it is here) but contrary to common opinion you CAN split the nest and get away with it especially if there is a flow on (or if feeding, same thing to a bee) but if you pop a sheet of foundation in the middle of the nest and feed them, you will find it drawn out and laid up in a week. Then more brood will have emerged and you could move another two frames in and perhaps think about replacing the super if they've got the bees to move into it. Do this another couple of times and the box will be drawn out, and there will be piles of brood.

One frame of brood = 3 frames of bees when emerged, you'll be amazed in a few weeks...

You've pre-emptied my "cunning plan" with 3 and 4 there has indeed been quite a change in the last 3/4 days

Many thanks i'll try to answer your other thoughts and questions later and show the changes seen yesterday

[dickymint]

Jambo85 said:

Good stuff - look forward to the update. I'm just going to remove some honey from mine that are on the oil seed rape. It's turned cold here and it'll crystalise if I don't get it extracted very soon!

As it happens i've just been linked to a short video taken yesterday by a guy I chat with on the Flow Hive UK group page
- shows him harvesting 2 x frames of (fully capped) OSR honey from his Flow super..............

https://www.facebook.com/jamie.bruce.94/videos/101...

[dickymint]

Nimby said:

Jambo85 said:

Good stuff - look forward to the update. I'm just going to remove some honey from mine that are on the oil seed rape. It's turned cold here and it'll crystalise if I don't get it extracted very soon!

Good luck. We extracted about 10 days ago during the heatwave and only just in the nick of time - some was already starting to granulate.

Is it "luck" though? Was yours capped and how long for? Could you have harvested it earlier? Is it down to logistics?

Hopefully these are all questions i can eventually answer myself but i suspect it's all down to where hives are located and how quickly keepers can react?