Hi guys. I use my chickens to control the hive beetle population. I have my hives located inside the chicken run, and the chickens forage for larva in the soil, and I only have seen two hives beetles the entire past summer season. Just a tip I wanted to share. Ensure you elevate your hives above the level of the chickens. Mine are located two cinder blocks high, seems to work for me.
@@webetruckin115 no they do not, but you have to watch during hive inspections. If you place a hive top board with bees on it near them, they will come over and gobble them up like M&M’s.
Thank you so much for this comment. My backyard has 1/3rd entirely fenced off for chickens and fruit trees. The chickens control some fruit tree pests in their grub stage - and after reading about the hive beetles and their larvae crawling around I was wondering if my chickens could be brought on to the Bee Keeping Team to do pest control! Thanks for the tip. Kind regards, Esther
I can’t wait to buy my new house. I am definitely going to buy a flow hive for urban beekeeping. My husband was skeptical I could do it before we found your hives. I must say your voice is so soothing. You should do narration work or voice overs... I’m sure you could talk a newborn baby to sleep.🤣
I was wondering if I should put my flow super on first and let that fill up and harvest in July and then put a regular super on after I harvest the flow super thenlet the bees build up the regular super for their winter food
My last question I was believing from what I was told not to expect honey the first season , but I live on a farm and I have way more food for bees than I have bees , my bees were 3 pound packages And now just after 3 weeks I have all the comb drawn out and full and there are thousands of new bees already in each of the 4 hives so I am running one brood box so I guess I will put the flow super on first and after I harvest the flow super I will put a medium super on so that can be filled for the bees , I have lexan so I can see if the bees need food during the winter without opening the brood box , if this sounds like a good plan let me know , I shouldn’t have a dearth this summer because there is plenty of resources for bees on my farm all season
What do you use in your smoker for fuel? I use burlap, and notice it burns out quickly. What is your opinion on the new AFB vaccine possibilities? Thank you for your videos, and the Flow Hive. Proud owner here.
I noticed that you mainly have 1 brood box and then the flow honey super.... at my local bee store they suggest 2 brood boxes... what do you think are the best ? 1 or 2 brood boxes?
My hive is ready brood box is bursting but the bees have no interest in the flow frames I scrapped wax out of the hive and smeared on the two middle frames. Was this the right thing to do or is there something else I can do to get them working the flow frames. Regards. Gareth
Hey Robert, You can - it depends on your unique colony and situation :) For the best advice to your particular climate we strongly recommend getting a local beekeeping mentor's input - here is our online directory with Flow ambassadors and affiliated beekeeping clubs that might have someone on it near you: www.honeyflow.com/pages/bee-club-directory And here's an article on swarm prevention that applies to this: www.honeyflow.com/blogs/beekeeping-basics/swarm-prevention If you're going to add a second brood box, we recommend only adding the second *after* you've first added your Flow super once your brood box is ready for it, to first encourage the bees to acquaint themselves with the frames :) I hope this helps! - Danika
No, the bees need somewhere to lay their eggs, raise the brood and look after the queen. A minimum hive IS the brood box. The bees might be able t raise new brood in plastic cells, but it'd be an awful way to do it. For traditional beekeeping, they use these empty frames to allow the bees to build the perfect comb for the size of their offspring. Some people use "foundation", which is wax sheets stamped with a comb pattern, but the bees build that out into comb to lay in anyway. A flow hive super would also be a very expensive way to raise bees, the flow hive frames are quite pricey (well worth it, but you want to use them for the correct purpose, which is harvesting honey only).
Hey Douglas, Yes, that's right :) The brood is just for the bees. It's important to leave some honey in the Flow frames for the bees at any given time as well, as they will feed from these as needed as well. See this page: support.honeyflow.com/do-i-need-to-leave-some-honey-in-the-hive-for-the-bees/ - Danika
You can harvest honey from the brood box as you would in a conventional way, however doing this sparingly and avoiding killing brood is important as these stores are important to the growth of the colony, adding an additional brood box might be a better option if you want honey comb. -Kieran
Hey Corey, Good question! The bees naturally reproduce by swarming, usually in Spring... here are a couple of pages about the different swarm prevention methods (while noting that nothing is 100% guaranteed prevention - often if the bees make up their mind there's little you can do to stop them!) www.honeyflow.com/blogs/beekeeping-basics/swarm-prevention www.honeyflow.com/blogs/livestreams/how-do-i-prevent-my-bees-from-swarming-220720 You can also cycle out old brood frames when needed to give the bees fresh new space in the brood box too: support.honeyflow.com/do-i-need-to-rotate-my-brood-frames/ I hope this helps! - Danika
