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General Q&A, Bee chat and only Bee chat please
 #6177  by AndrewLD
 04 Apr 2020, 21:14
You may have noticed (or not perhaps) that under Education there is a beginners forum. The answers to many of your questions are likely to be found there :D
 #6182  by MickBBKA
 05 Apr 2020, 01:14
Hi Lesley and welcome to the forum. Did your local association not match you up with a mentor ? Local experience is invaluable in the UK as the regions differ massively in terms of forage, weather and colony status for the time of year. Advice online will be based on keepers experience in their own locality and may not be suited to you at your stage of the season.

The learning curve is vertical at the start, I understand it levels off after about 50 years keeping, but only until another virus, parasite or invasive species appears...LOL

Its great fun though..... Cheers, Mick.
 #6185  by Alfred
 05 Apr 2020, 12:58
Just one more from me this time more seriously,as this set me back a bit last year.
Reduce your information intake to one or two sources,then expand as you learn.

Be very wary of you tube videos as they are often done by over excited newbies who later neglect to mention that their brainwave ideas had consequences later on
Also the Americans and Canadians do things differently ( as does their climate)
If you must stray into you tube
Stewart's Beekeeping Basics is fairly safe if you can't get a human mentor.

Good reading for quick reference is Haynes Manual for beekeepers .

Also Hell and high water won't prevent you from wanting to try the tricks with bamboo sticks etc but try to stick to convention untill you know a bit more
 #6187  by NigelP
 05 Apr 2020, 17:04
Alfred wrote:
05 Apr 2020, 12:58

Also Hell and high water won't prevent you from wanting to try the tricks with bamboo sticks etc but try to stick to convention untill you know a bit more
And when you do know a bit more, still avoid the tricks with bamboo sticks....whatever it is.
Worth remembering there are no stupid questions, the only stupid bit is not asking questions when not sure what to do. As there are always several possibilities you can then chose which one to follow. Don't make the mistake I did early doors of trying to follow everyone's advice....still the bees survived....it was the beekeeper who got confused.
If you are observant you will notice that bees do things quite differently from that described in many books. Basically many books are full of beekeeper thinking. I find many of the older tomes are well worth reading as they were far more observant about their bees than many of today's beekeepers.
One book worth it's weight in gold is Snelgrove's Swarming and its control.
Whilst his science about why they swarmed was wrong he certainly nailed it down and describes his methods of prevention and swarm control he also describes all the methods we still use today in all their various forms.
Often derided as a dry read... far from it I found and I never leave home without several snelgrove boards in the truck.
 #6339  by DomP99
 11 Apr 2020, 18:52
Hi there, I'm new to beekeeping and have been doing as much research as possible on how to get started but would really appreciate some advice. I'm looking to purchase a Flow Hive 2 for the ease of use with the harvesting process but would like to hear from the BBKA their views on this beehive, I seem to only see positive reviews so would love if someone that actually uses this beehive would shed some light on the usability, maintenance and all round experience of using the hive.

As well as the above I'd like to know what types of problems beginner beekeepers encounter and how to avoid them, also what types of tell-tale signs of pests interfering with the beehive should I look out for and what should I do if there is a pest infestation.

Lastly can I ask where the best place to get a queen bee and a few workers from so that I can eventually add them to my hive or is it best to get a more established colony of bees to start with. I really like the idea of starting with a few bees and raising them to a full colony.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to any advice you can give,

Dom, 20, South East London
 #6340  by NigelP
 11 Apr 2020, 19:06
Leave it well alone. A flow hive requires far too much specialised knowledge to work well in the UK. Definitely not suitable if just starting out.
From your thoughts it's quite reasonable to assume you need to read or be taught quite a lot more. Alas you cannot buy a queen and a few bees to start a colony, at the very least you need to buy a nucleus of bees, many suppliers of them but book yours fast they sell out quickly. These are small colonies that should develop into large full colonies.

Ohhhh and join your local BBKA association they will provide some hands on advice and hopefully some practical skills once we get past this pandemic...... Like have you ever opened a hive of bees before? Many drop any idea of taking up beekeeping at this point....worth checking it works for you before spending a considerable sum of money.
 #6342  by Alfred
 11 Apr 2020, 19:57
DomP99 wrote:
11 Apr 2020, 18:52
Hi there, I'm new to beekeeping and have been doing as much research as possible on how to get started but would really appreciate some advice. I'm looking to purchase a Flow Hive 2 for the ease of use with the harvesting process but would like to hear from the BBKA their views on this beehive, I seem to only see positive reviews so would love if someone that actually uses this beehive would shed some light on the usability, maintenance and all round experience of using the hive.

As well as the above I'd like to know what types of problems beginner beekeepers encounter and how to avoid them, also what types of tell-tale signs of pests interfering with the beehive should I look out for and what should I do if there is a pest infestation.

Lastly can I ask where the best place to get a queen bee and a few workers from so that I can eventually add them to my hive or is it best to get a more established colony of bees to start with. I really like the idea of starting with a few bees and raising them to a full colony.

Thank you for your time, I look forward to any advice you can give,

Dom, 20, South East London
Dom ,you have a hell of a lot to learn all at once with this lark so for now go back through this thread for some good advice( unusually there's no disagreement between contributors)

Most will agree a Flow hive is a big burden for you on your near vertical learning curve.I watched the device completely flummox an experienced keeper last year.

Get one real life mentor and avoid the internet(especially the other forum as much as possible-too much information and much of it complete codswallop

You should start with at least a nuc of bees -less is possible but precarious in your current position on the curve.
 #6345  by DomP99
 11 Apr 2020, 21:18
Ok thanks for the advice, I’m still in the early stages of getting started and am trying to find out as much info as I can before speaking to an established beekeeper once this pandemic is over, I’d appreciate some more constructive feedback, such as why the flow hive requires such specialised knowledge when they market it as such an easy to use beehive and why it wouldn’t work in the UK. I have been wanting to start keeping bees since my visit to Kangaroo Island 2 years ago where I was informed I could purchase a Ligurian Queen bee and a few workers and start my colony from there hence my question, Im aware I have a lot to learn and will read through the other posts ASAP. Thanks again
 #6346  by Patrick
 11 Apr 2020, 21:40
Hi Dom and welcome to the Forum

I certainly can't claim to speak on behalf of the BBKA but I have used a Flow hive at our local association divisional apiary. Every few years someone designs a new hive and for a period it is the thing to have. We are yet to see if the Flow hive is one of these.

What I can say is that it is mainly about one way to extract nectar / honey. To be honest, I do not think it is the easiest way and fraught with some quite arcane practical and beekeeping complications. The time and trouble of a conventional honey extraction for a single hive is really no big deal and hiring an extractor from your local association should only cost a couple of quid a day.

The biggest issue in keeping a single hive of bees (most especially in an urban environment) is not honey extraction -indeed in your first year or so you may not even get any - it is managing or trying to prevent swarming by weekly inspections. The Flow hive does not provide any shortcuts in that respect. It certainly is not a magic solution letting you leave your bees happily alone all season, you have to inspect them just like most other hives. Our experience locally was actually a heightened tendency to swarming probably due to colony congestion (supers are not just there to store honey but also provide space for bees). It is also a comparatively expensive option compared to more common hive designs. Just my view and as I say we have yet to see if it will stand the test of time.

You may find it a bit more difficult this year to get to handle bees at a local association meeting but if you do get the chance, its a really good way to get acquainted and see if its for you.
 #6350  by AndrewLD
 11 Apr 2020, 22:13
Hi Dom and welcome.
I recommend you get hold of a copy of the Haynes Bee manual and read it from cover to cover. It was written by two very experienced beekeepers but the Haynes Manual editorial style makes it a really good book for the beginner. It is clear, concise and well illustrated.
You would benefit enormously from a beginner's course run by your local beekeeping association and the advice to wait until you have done a couple of practical apiary sessions before getting bees is very good advice.
You seem to have your sights set upon a Flow Hive and are asking for a more precise explanation as to why they may not be a good idea for a beginner or may not be suitable for the UK. It would be useful I think if those would have responded so far could just give a couple of examples of the difficulties you could find yourself in. I have no experience of the flow hive and would just be guessing but the first thing I wondered about when I first saw the promotional videos was how it would cope with the fast granulating (setting) oilseed rape honey that sets solid in the frames. I know you can take them apart to clean them out but just how easy is that and what do you do whilst your flow hive is clogged up solid and the bees are still bringing in more and more nectar? In a conventional hive one can whip off the super, take out the frames and put in more frames or even add extra supers - can you do that with a flow hive. Get this wrong and the bees run out of storage space, fill up the brood box with stores (honey) and quickly swarm because they have no room - get the idea?